Review: Letters from the ATO

Reviews and reports

The ATO sends more than 140 million letters and messages to Australians each year and invests considerable taxpayer funded resources into developing and distributing them. 

But many people still say they find some letters confusing, too technical, and their tone can cause unnecessary stress and anxiety. 

We conducted this review because the ATO has a responsibility to engage with taxpayers in ways that make it easy to understand their obligations and any actions they need to take. 

The review looked at the ATO’s process for designing and testing high volume letters and examined a sample of some of the most complex letters.

Documents and downloads

Final Report – Letters from the ATO – July 2025
Plain English report
10 things to know about this report
Media release
Terms of Reference

Review: Identification and management of financial abuse within the tax system

Reviews and reports

Financial abuse can happen to anyone. Data from the Australian Bureau of Statistics shows that 1 in 6 women (16% or 1.6 million women) and 1 in 13 men (7.8% or 745,000 men) have experienced economic abuse by an intimate partner. Financial abuse can occur through many different types of practices, including weaponisation of the tax system. The impacts on victim-survivors (and their families) can be devastating and long lasting, with substantial financial burdens and ongoing instability and stress caused by debts they did not personally incur.

We conducted this review because more needs to be done to understand how the tax system is being weaponised and what action is required from the Australian Taxation Office (ATO) to address it and provide appropriate support and remediation for those affected.

Documents and downloads

Tax Ombudsman final report – April 2025
Report case studies
Ten things to know about this report
Terms of reference
Implementation plan and status for agreed recommendations

Systemic review of the effectiveness of the ATO’s registered agent phone line.

STATUS: Submissions have closed. Report expected mid Oct 2025.

The Inspector-General of Taxation and Taxation Ombudsman is investigating the effectiveness of the Australian Taxation Office (ATO) registered agent phone line in response to increased reports of dissatisfaction with the service. Registered tax and BAS agents and their professional bodies and associations across Australia can share their feedback, insights and ideas for improvement online and in person as part of the review.

Download terms of reference

Why are we investigating?

Registered tax agents lodged 62% of all individual tax returns in 2022-23, and 96% of organisational tax returns. The ATO encourages registered agents to use its online services but, with 65% of agents reporting problems, there is still a strong demand for their dedicated registered agent phone line. Agents using the phone line report more dissatisfaction with the service, saying it has long wait time, is inconsistent and doesn’t give them confidence they are getting the right answers when they call.

An audit of the ATO’s engagement with tax practitioners by the Australian National Audit Office (ANAO) in 2022-23 also examined the registered agent phone line and recommended that the ATO ‘consult with tax practitioners to better understand their concerns regarding the registered agent phone line and use this feedback to guide the development of future service offerings’.

This review will look into the differences between what registered agents expect and what the ATO provides, as well as how the ATO is consulting with them, to make recommendations on how the service can be improved.

What are we investigating?

Based on the concerns raised though our complaint investigation service and our engagements with registered agents, the review will look at:

  • why there is a mismatch between what agents want from the registered agent phone line and what the ATO provides
  • the skills, training and support for ATO officers working on the phone line and what improvements could be made
  • whether registered agent phone line service standards align with agents’ expectations and whether they are being met
  • whether the registered agent phone line service support for the new client-agent linking service is adequate and fit for purpose.

We will also look at how the ATO has implemented the ANAO recommendation to consult with tax practitioners about the improvements to the registered agent phone line.

How can you get involved?

We encourage registered agents to get involved and we welcome input and contributions. You can take part in several ways.

Feedback forums

The Inspector-General will be hosting informal feedback forums to gain information and insights from registered agents and practitioners. Comments will be collected and analysed for themes and areas of interest; individuals will not be named or cited.

  • 12 March 2025: Curtin University, Perth from 5pm-7pm AWST | Registration closed.
  • 18 March 2025: Online forum (Adelaide) from 11-12:30pm ACDT/12-1:30pm AEDT | Registration closed.
  • 18 March 2025: Online forum (Brisbane) from 5pm-6pm AEST/6pm-7pm AEDT | Registration closed.
  • 18 March 2025: Online forum (Darwin) from 5pm-6:30pm ACST/7pm-8:30pm AEDT | Registration closed.
  • 20 March 2025: University of Canberra from 5pm-6:30pm AEDT| Registration closed.
  • 25 March 2025: In person forum Sydney from 5pm-6:30pm AEDT | Registration closed.
  • 1 April 2025: In-person forum in Hobart from 5pm-6:30pm AEDT| Registration closed.

Online forums have been scheduled in the time zones for each capital city to make it easier for you to join from there, but you can join any session from anywhere in Australia.

Survey

Registered tax agents can complete a short survey online as part of the review. You will be asked for your name and registration number when completing the survey. This information will only be used to confirm your identity and status as a registered agent. It will not be used as part of the review, shared with anyone outside the review team, or published in the final report.

Complete the survey online now

Submissions

Formal submissions were accepted up until 28 March 2025, online, by email or by post and have now closed.

If you have any questions about submissions for this review, email [email protected]

Professional bodies

The professional bodies representing agents will be directly engaged with the IGTO review team. We encourage all agents to get involved, but you can also rely on your professional body to provide feedback and suggestions on your behalf.

Other research

We will analyse the complaints we have received to see if there are lessons or themes we can draw out that we can use in our recommendations. The details of individual complaints and the people who made them will not be published or shared with anyone outside the IGTO.

We will also conduct research on agent issues and feedback previously raised by representative bodies to previous consultations and in social media channels.

When will we report back?

Submissions have now closed. We expect to publish our report in mid-October 2025.

Identification and management of financial abuse within the tax system

Terms of reference

Our work will build on broader Parliamentary, academic and community efforts to combat financial abuse and support victim-survivors. Our review will examine concerns raised though our complaint investigation service and by key stakeholders to seek to identify improvements in detecting and managing instances of financial abuse within the tax system. Importantly we will examine best practice approaches to assist the ATO to design products and processes that effectively support victim-survivors of financial abuse and minimise the risk of further victimisation within the tax system.

The questions we will seek to answer as part of our review are:

  1. Whether the ATO has appropriate processes, practice statements, training and guidance in place to assist its officers to identify potential financial abuse within the tax system (for the purposes of supporting and providing relief from tax liability).
  2. How ATO systems may be used to identify potential financial abuse within the tax system (including through information sharing with other agencies or third parties), building off similar experience in the financial services sector (noting that entities in the financial services sector operate in a different regulatory framework and environment to the ATO).
  3. How the ATO provides effective support to victim-survivors and relief for tax liability created through financial abuse, in particular whether the ATO:
    • is appropriately considering victim-survivor circumstances
    • leverages the data / information, services and specialist expertise of other agencies and organisations
    • raises awareness amongst taxpayers and tax professionals about financial abuse in the tax system and how to seek assistance from the ATO.
  4. Whether the ATO is utilising its full suite of powers to grant relief and provide support to victim-survivors of financial abuse within the tax system and hold perpetrators to account (e.g. reallocation or redistribution of liabilities or referral to law enforcement agencies).
  5. The interactions between the ATO and other government agencies as it relates to financial abuse within the tax system, in particular:
    • the information sharing arrangements between the ATO and Services Australia as they relate to financial abuse within the tax system
    • how the tax consequences of financial abuse impact programs administered by other government agencies, in particular welfare and child support
    • the administrative and legislative barriers (e.g. resources, systems, legislative settings etc) that prevent the ATO from being able to work more effectively with Services Australia to minimise the impacts of financial abuse within the tax system on welfare and child support services.

While this review will address some elements of financial hardship and ATO support to taxpayers experiencing vulnerability, it will not involve a deep dive into those topics. Those topics may be investigated as separate stand-alone reviews, subject to further consultation with stakeholders as part of a future refresh of our workplan.

Our review will also not examine law enforcement and prosecutorial efforts to combat coercive control and financial abuse.

While we will take note of policy and administrative programs of work currently being undertaken by other parts of government, this review will focus specifically on tax administration.

Identification and management of financial abuse within the tax system154 KB

Review: ATO administration and management of Objections

Reviews and reports

The report on objections finalises a review that has been conducted over several years, including the publication of an interim report on 10 October 2022.

Objections are an essential part of the tax system and are often the only affordable option open to many taxpayers to challenge tax office decisions. We believe it’s imperative that the function is easily accessed and operates without undue delays.

Our report has recommended changes to make it faster and simpler for all taxpayers to lodge an objection with the ATO. The report highlights 4 areas of improvement:

  • increasing accessibility by extending online lodgement to all taxpayers
  • streamlining processes to reduce time and resources devoted to high volume, low risk objections
  • increasing taxpayer engagement to speed up the time taken to complete an objection
  • learning lessons from objections to prevent the number of objections needing to be made.

Documents and downloads

Tax Ombudsman final report – October 2024
Tax Ombudsman interim report summary
Tax Ombudsman interim report – October 2022
Implementation plan and status for agreed recommendations

Review: Tax identity fraud – an own-initiative investigation

Reviews and reports

This is the interim report of our own initiative investigation into tax identity fraud, focusing on the importance of bank account integrity. The report focuses on the ATO’s risk management controls to prevent fraudsters from changing the bank account details on legitimate taxpayers’ ATO accounts, which is a fundamental step in obtaining fraudulent refunds from the tax system.

This is the interim report of our own initiative investigation into tax identity fraud, focusing on the importance of bank account integrity. The report focuses on the ATO’s risk management controls to prevent fraudsters from changing the bank account details on legitimate taxpayers’ ATO accounts, which is a fundamental step in obtaining fraudulent refunds from the tax system.

Following the commencement of our investigation, the Tax Ombudsman received numerous submissions from the taxpayer and tax practitioner community that raised concerns about the ATO’s lack of action in detecting and preventing tax identity fraud. We also investigated ATO actions taken in response to potential tax identity fraud that were the subject of taxpayer disputes (unresolved complaints).

We make 13 recommendations for ATO improvement in this interim (Phase 1) report.

Documents and downloads

Tax Ombudsman’s interim report
Tax Ombudsman report summary
ATO response cover letter – 14 February 2025
ATO response to recommendations
Implementation plan and status for agreed recommendations

Review: The administration of the Commissioner’s remedial power

Reviews and reports

This report examines the discretionary statutory power for the Commissioner of Taxation to temporarily modify the operation of taxation law provisions where those provisions give rise to unintended or unforeseen outcomes.

The report explores the ATO’s approach to receiving, considering and determining which issues are suitable for the exercise of the power and the reasons why candidates may fail. The report identifies a number of opportunities for improvement.

Documents and downloads

Tax Ombudsman’s report
Tax Ombudsman report summary
ATO response – 6 November 2023

‘Own initiative’ investigation into tax identity fraud

Terms of reference

To investigate the ATO’s systems that prevent, detect and respond to identity and related financial fraud, and the impact of those measures on affected taxpayers and their representatives including:

  1. What controls and security measures the ATO has in place, including modifications implemented since Operation Protego, to prevent and detect identity and financial fraud or identity theft from occurring on taxpayers’ ATO accounts
  2. What communication measures and tools are relied upon to prevent, detect and respond to treating identity and related financial fraud
  3. Whether the ATO makes effective use of information that taxpayers and tax practitioners provide which indicate potential weaknesses in the ATO’s approach to addressing identity and related financial fraud, for example:
    1. quickly acting on taxpayers’ enquiries that indicate potential compromise of accounts, and analysing them to detect potential new and emerging fraud methodologies
    2. quickly acting on concerns raised by tax practitioners about potential weaknesses in administration and inter-agency interactions and using them to test and update the ATO’s fraud detection methods
  4. Whether the ATO quickly and effectively treats instances of identity and related financial fraud when notified, for example, by:
    1. immediately stopping any affected refunds that are due to issue
    2. immediately preventing further unauthorised dealings with the taxpayer’s account and protecting it against future financial damage
  5. Whether the ATO has appropriately considered the impact that security settings (especially ongoing security settings) placed on compromised ATO accounts may have on affected taxpayers and their representatives, such as:
    1. where the ATO imposes protection measures on a compromised account, the ease with which affected taxpayers and tax practitioners can access their accounts to fulfil their tax obligations, and the alternative measures that are open to the ATO
    2. the speed at which tax returns and notices issued for affected taxpayers will be assessed
    3. the treatment of debts on affected taxpayer accounts pending the outcome of investigations into the alleged identity and related financial fraud.

Contact us

Email us [email protected]

You can submit your experiences up until 15 February 2024.

The IGTO report with findings and recommendations is planned for release in June 2024.

ID Fraud Terms of Reference358 KB

Review: The exercise of the Commissioner’s general powers of administration

Reviews and reports

This report examines the nature and purpose of the Commissioner’s General Powers of Administration (GPA). Through five case studies, the report examines how the GPA is exercised. Although many unremarkable decisions are made each day under the GPA, significant decisions such as settlement of tax disputes and implementation of relief measures during the COVID-19 pandemic also rely upon the GPA.

Documents and downloads

Tax Ombudsman’s report
Tax Ombudsman report summary
ATO letter of response – 22 May 2023
Terms of reference

Review: Improving the operation of the Small Business Litigation Funding Program

Reviews and reports

This report shares insights, observations and recommendations to improve the ATO’s administration of the Small Business Litigation Funding Program, which arose during Tax Ombudsman investigations of unresolved complaints (disputes) that were lodged by small businesses and legal practitioners.

The Small Business Litigation Funding Program was initiated by a 2019 Government measure. It was aimed at levelling the playing field for unrepresented small businesses in the Small Business Tax Division of the Administrative Appeals Tribunal in cases where the ATO chose to engage a barrister to represent it.

In practice, the ATO gives an up-front commitment to make a specified amount of funding available and to reimburse some of the small business’s representation costs.

Documents and downloads

Tax Ombudsman’s report