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Six-step method provokes storm of protest on social media and will be “a major headache” for small clients, say accountants.
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Professional bodies demand changes to ATO agent linking process
19 January 2023
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Professional bodies are meeting the ATO today to demand changes to the tax agent linking system after a storm of protest on social media about the complexity of the process.
Representatives from CA ANZ, CPA Australia, IPA and members of the Tax Practitioners Stewardship Group are furious that the ATO finalised the six-step linking regime without consulting them in early December.
At the same time, tax agents on social media have damned the process as unrealistic and say the ATO has learned nothing from the director ID debacle, which failed to sign up one in five directors.
Typical social media comments were:
“It’s almost like they want to make things as convoluted as possible.”
“An absolute impractical fiasco in the making.”
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“They need to fix myGovID first. There are so many clients that cannot get a strong level due to a lack of ID options.”
“Someone who has never worked with clients in public practice has designed this process, which will soon become unworkable.”
The agent linking process (outlined in the ATO diagram below) requires a client to:
– set up their digital identity on myGovID.
– link their myGovID to their ABN using Relationship Authorisation Manager (RAM).
– authorise others to act on their behalf in RAM (if necessary).
– log in to Online Services for Business.
– find their chosen agent using their registered agent number (RAN) and nominate them.
– alert their agent that they have completed the process, after which the agent has seven days to act on the nomination.
The CEO of Change Accountants & Advisors, Timothy Munro, said the system would be a “nightmare” and expecting clients to complete the process was unrealistic.
“While this approach may cut down on fraud by an unscrupulous tax agent wanting to do the wrong thing, it's going to cause a major headache for accounting firms taking on smaller clients who aren't tech savvy,” he said.
“Many clients don't use online services by the ATO - they use us to process their needs. And it was an absolute nightmare getting clients to register for myGovID for their director ID number.”
“It's just another red tape process that takes more time out of the day for accountants on top of everything else that's been changing lately.”
The ATO revealed its plans for agent linking on December 5 following a “successful pilot” for the process involving the top 1,000 businesses from mid-year. The rollout took in the remaining public and multinational businesses as well as the top 500 privately owned wealthy groups from December 13.
The office said the stricter regime was essential to protect its systems from cyber crime, with the ATO admitting it was subject to 3 million attempted hacks every month.
“We need to further strengthen the security of our online services to respond to increasing efforts by criminals to impersonate legitimate users to lodge fraudulent tax returns, or gain access to data that they can make money from,” the ATO said announcing the expanded rollout of the scheme.
The process would be required when taking on a new client or changing existing arrangements, the ATO said.
“Businesses and organisations included in the process will need to use the new agent nomination feature in Online Services for Business if they:
- engage a new tax or BAS agent, or payroll service provider to represent them.
- provide extra authorisation to you as their existing authorised agent (for example, you start representing them for a new obligation such as activity statements or a new entity in their group).”
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