What’s up with the ATO’s client-to-agent linking process?

This article was current at the time of publication.

The Australian Taxation Office (ATO) says it is addressing concerns over its client-to-agent linking service that are causing difficulties for many practitioners trying to onboard clients.

Last November the ATO made it mandatory for all entities with an Australian Business Number (ABN), excluding sole traders, to use the agent nomination feature in Online services for business when engaging a tax or BAS agent or payroll servicer provider.

All new clients, and existing clients wanting to be represented for an additional service obligation, need to go through the online nomination process before a practitioner can add them to their client list.

However, since being implemented, some clients hoping to engage a new practitioner have run into a string of technical issues when navigating through various online requirements.

Online teething issues 

Client-to-agent linking ensures that a client must digitally authorise who can act for them and accesses their information when they choose to appoint a new agent. It leverages existing whole-of-government digital infrastructure: myGovID, Relationship Authorisation Manager (RAM), and ATO online services.

ATO Assistant Commissioner Hayley Busuttil says the ATO continues to see many new clients getting themselves set up and nominating an agent in Online services for business, with more than 160,000 nominations having been completed by clients to date.

“Client-to-agent linking was introduced because the ATO saw criminals attempting to commit fraud by taking over the identities of honest tax agents to access personal information of their existing clients and without permission change the agent of unknowing businesses and committing refund fraud in their name,” Busuttil says.

“We were compelled to act quickly to strengthen the system and protect client information to prevent this type of fraud proliferating.”

But she concedes that some clients have encountered problems when going through online processes.

“While most are able to do the process easily or with minimal help, the ATO continues to listen to feedback, and is working to address the concerns raised where people have issues,” Busuttil says.

Common feedback to the ATO has included:

• Clients finding they can’t complete the agent nomination process until they go to the Australian Business Register (ABR) portal to review and update their data.
• Clients needing to set up a digital ID through the myGovID app, and those choosing to have a strong myGovID for added security are required to have an Australian passport for verification.
• All clients also need to link their myGovID to their ABN. Those with a strong myGovID must use the RAM portal, while clients with a standard myGovID are required to contact the ATO.
• Clients have been encountering extensive phone delays when contacting ATO call centres.
• Practitioners have advised the ATO they have lost business as a result of potential clients not being able to complete the agent nomination processes.

Added complexity

Phil McCann FCPA, Director of Melbourne-based accounting firm McCann Financial Group, says it has become much harder for business clients to change from one accounting practitioner to another.

“It used to be easy. It still is easy for an individual, but now for a business it’s like pulling teeth,” McCann says, pointing to the need for prospective business clients to set up a digital ID if they don’t already have one, add identification, link in information from multiple platforms, nominate their agent, and then let their agent know that they have been nominated.

“It used to take five minutes to change agents, but now it can take hours. It took one of my new clients living in the country two weeks to appoint me as their tax agent. It’s just a minefield of delays and bureaucracy.

“I am concerned this is not good for proper competition in the advice space.”

McCann says the online registration and linking processes now required are not necessarily difficult for technology-savvy clients, but they can be for people with limited online experience.

“We used to do everything for them. We used to be their eyes, ears, and taxation conduit from start to finish. But now, before that process starts for a new client, they have to get themselves organised in the electronic systems of government.

“It can take hours or weeks, depending on what the poor taxpayer has, or doesn’t have, in terms of their electronic armoury.”

Hannah Griffits CPA, of Toowoomba-based accountants Moore Lewis & Partners, says she has found the process is much easier for people who have an Australian passport versus those that don’t.

“It’s just trying to get the identity to where the ATO wants it. If you have a passport, it seems easier, but if you don’t have a passport then you’ve got to call the ATO and sit on the phone for two or three hours to do your identity that way,” Griffits says.

“Not everyone has an Australian passport. We’re in a rural area and a lot of our clients don’t do that much travelling, so they don’t have passports.”

She says the ATO should iron out the bugs in the business onboarding processes before it is rolled out to individuals at a later stage.

Monitoring feedback

Busuttil says that after each phase of the deployment the ATO has undertaken feedback sessions with users of the process to listen and identify opportunities for enhancements. 

“We continue to refine our processes and support material as a result of this feedback,” she says.

“The ATO will continue to engage with the professional associations and look for opportunities and further capitalise on any changes to the technology that will improve the process for agents and clients, while ensuring this does not undermine fraud prevention.

“The ATO acknowledges the strong advocacy of the tax professional associations on behalf of their members and, while good consultation does not always achieve consensus, the ATO continues to listen to and work with the associations to make improvements to the experience of businesses and agents with client-to-agent linking.”