I'm a Tax Agent and am looking at clients via Online Services for Agents. For a specific client, I'm reviewing Communication History - one of the items shows as a "Digital Activity Statement Notice" via channel "ATO Online". This seems to be something new.
For two clients, one has their email address recorded under client details but the other one has no email address. Please advise how these ATO Online notices are delivered to clients?
Hi @JV519,
How your client receives notices will depend on their communication preference. As a tax agent you can set this to your practice, however clients also have the option to receive correspondence online. The ATO online channel means they receive it through their myGov account that's linked with us. That digital activity statement notice is just an activity statement issued electronically. You can read more about communication preferences on our website. That's the tax agent page and it runs through everything from your side.
Hi @JV519,
How your client receives notices will depend on their communication preference. As a tax agent you can set this to your practice, however clients also have the option to receive correspondence online. The ATO online channel means they receive it through their myGov account that's linked with us. That digital activity statement notice is just an activity statement issued electronically. You can read more about communication preferences on our website. That's the tax agent page and it runs through everything from your side.
I agree and second what all the tax agents on this thread are advising. This system is a shambles. We as tax agents cannot work out what is going on here so there is no chance for our clients to understand. As tax agents we are being blamed by our clients for the appalling miscommunications and they believe we are receiving the communications and not passing onto them, particularly since the ATO includes our tax agent postal address on the 'letters' which are supposedly 'sent'. I believe, in their zeal to turn everything digital the ATO are turning on "ATO online" even when there has been no digital communication channel linked to the client and so the notices are effectively going nowhere and we have to deal with irate clients as the first we hear about it is when a late notice is issued. I am going to be changing all clients communication/postal address to their own - so at least the letters will start showing as the clients address so they can complain to the ATO that they never received them. I will also be pasting the link to this forum posting out with my apology emails to clients, so they can see it is an Australia wide issue and not our firms incompetence.
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