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RoRo(Initiate)Initiate
6 May 2026

Our accountant has not completed our mothers deceased estate 24/25 tax return despite having all paperwork from August last year. He is not answering our emails and when we ring, staff tell us they will leave a message for him to call and he doesn’t . We’ve been chasing him from January and have no idea what’s going on. Should we apply for safe harbour before May 15 and can we do this or does he have to apply for this? If we apply for safe harbour and are approved can we retrieve paperwork from him and take it to someone else to complete or does he have to do the return? We can’t understand what’s happening with him and have tried and tried to contact him to work out what’s going on.

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2 replies
41 views
2 replies

Most helpful response

Most helpful reply

RedWagons(Initiate)Initiate
7 May 2026

Hi,


A safe harbour request can come from you or your agent. If your tax agent is ghosting you, I wouldn’t expect them to lodge it. Whether to apply is ultimately up to you, but at the very least I’d recommend calling the ATO to make sure the issue is noted on their end if you don’t end up applying for safe harbour.


You can also absolutely go to a different tax agent, and doing so will not negatively impact a safe harbour request. It would be unreasonable to force you to stay with a tax agent who appears to have no intention of doing their job.


If the reason for applying for safe harbour is to avoid any FTL (failure to lodge) penalties, those penalties may not even be applied in the first place. Even if they are, you can always request a remission.


Lastly, another option would be to request a deferment, pushing back the lodgement due date giving you more time. This can be done over the phone with the ATO.


All replies

Most helpful reply

RedWagons(Initiate)Initiate
7 May 2026

Hi,


A safe harbour request can come from you or your agent. If your tax agent is ghosting you, I wouldn’t expect them to lodge it. Whether to apply is ultimately up to you, but at the very least I’d recommend calling the ATO to make sure the issue is noted on their end if you don’t end up applying for safe harbour.


You can also absolutely go to a different tax agent, and doing so will not negatively impact a safe harbour request. It would be unreasonable to force you to stay with a tax agent who appears to have no intention of doing their job.


If the reason for applying for safe harbour is to avoid any FTL (failure to lodge) penalties, those penalties may not even be applied in the first place. Even if they are, you can always request a remission.


Lastly, another option would be to request a deferment, pushing back the lodgement due date giving you more time. This can be done over the phone with the ATO.


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