Client Alert: important Changes you need to know about the ATO and your MyGov Account
MyGov Account Users
This client alert is for those clients who have a “MyGov” account. If you don’t have a MyGov account then this client alert does not apply to you.
For those clients who have registered and use “MyGov” for different government services such as Medicare or My Health Record, the method that you receive communications from the Australian Taxation Office (ATO) has now changed if you have also linked your ATO account to your MyGov account.
How you will receive ATO correspondence
MyGov users who have tied the ATO communication to their MyGov profile will now receive all ATO correspondence directly in their MyGov inbox.
Please note Mitchell Partners do not have access to your MyGov account and therefore, we will not be notified of any messages that you receive from the ATO.
We are not notified when these messages and documents are sent to you. As you could appreciate we cannot log into the ATO Portal every day for every client to see what documents have been sent to client’s MyGov account. As a result, we will not be aware of you receiving important updates that are associated with your taxation affairs, unless you inform us first.
The types of ATO notifications that you may receive in your myGov account are:
- Tax assessment notices
- Excess contributions notices
- Division 293 notices
- Tax Account Statements (income tax account) and overdue amounts
- Integrated Client Account Statements (BAS Returns & GST) and overdue amounts
- PAYG Instalment Notices
- Activity Statements (BAS and IAS)
- Confirmation and reminder notices
Therefore if you have a MyGov account it is very important that you:
- Ensure that your email attached to your MyGov account is up to date. If your email is not up to date then you will not receive notifications when you have new mail in your inbox.
- Check your MyGov inbox when you are notified of mail.
- Inform us of by forwarding copies of any relevant ATO correspondence that you receive and we need to be aware of.
If you have a MyGov account and you did not link the ATO to your myGov account then we will continue to receive all of your ATO communications on your behalf as your tax agent (as has occurred in the past) and there is no further action required on your part.
Preferences for ATO Correspondence in the future
We have been advised that the ATO will be releasing a new feature to your MyGov ATO account in the latter half of 2019 which will allow you to preference how you receive your ATO correspondence.
As part of the new release you will be able to elect to have your tax agent receive all of your ATO correspondence as well as it going to your MyGov inbox (ie we will be copied on all of your ATO correspondence)
When the new release is issued we will be in touch with you with further information on what you need to do to ensure that Mitchell Partners is copied in on your ATO correspondence as your tax agent.
