You can use Google search to find a web page or information on a particular topic. The Google search box is located in the top right hand corner of each web page on the ATO website.
How does Google search work?
Enter a term - that is a word or phrase - that best describes the information you want to find into the search box and Google search will scan the ATO website and return a page of results.
The results will be presented as a list of web pages featuring the title of each page and a brief description of the page's content. In addition to the general results, some search terms will present you with a short list of pages headed Tax Office recommends. If these appear, they are likely to be the most relevant to your search query. In either case, click on the title of the page you want and you will be taken to that page.
Choosing the right search terms is the key to finding the information you need.
If you are looking for general information you might use a general search term, but to narrow the results you will often need to use multiple search terms. For example, a search for the term 'tax' will return thousands of results; a search for 'capital gains tax' will narrow the list producing a better result. Choose your search terms carefully as the more specific the term or phrase, the smaller the list of results.
A good way to search is to start with a single word then, if too many results are listed, add more words to refine your search.
More than one page of search results
If your search returns a large number of results, Google search divides these into groups of 10 and displays a series of numbered boxes below the results list. Use the Previous or Next links to navigate through the results or jump to the page you want by selecting the page number.
Features of Google search
Searching for information from previous years
Only information which is current will be returned in basic search results. To access information, including publications and forms, from previous years, go to advanced search.
Search only specific areas
Searching the ATO website
If you start your search from the website home page, or from within the Tax Professionals or Superannuation segments, Google returns results from the whole of the ATO website. If you start your search from within the Individuals, Businesses, Government or Non-profit segments then, by default, Google will return only those documents which are relevant to that group of taxpayers.
From the advanced search page, you can select one or more areas to include in your search.
Searching the Legal Database
The Legal Database contains the legal and policy information the ATO uses to make decisions.
You can search across the entire Legal Database by inputting a search term and selecting the 'legal database' checkbox on the home page of the ATO website.
If your search returns too many results, you can enter the Legal Database and refine your search by selecting one or more categories. To do this, click on the 'Legal database' option in the 'Not what you wanted? Try a specialist search' box on the right hand side of the Search results screen.
Alternatively, you can go directly to the Legal Database at http://law.ato.gov.au or navigate to it by clicking on the 'Tax Professionals' tab on the ATO website, then 'Law, Rulings and Policy' and 'Legal Database'.
See the Legal Database Reference Manual for more information on searching the Legal Database.
The Tax Office recommends section
This section, which appears at the top of the search results page, contains a list of web pages likely to be the most relevant for the search terms entered.
Alternative search terms
Alternatives are offered for specified terms to help you find the information you are looking for. For example, if you search on an out-of-date term such as "Group certificate", the message "You could also try: Payment summary" will appear.
Choosing the right search term
Automatic exclusion of common words
Google search automatically ignores common words and characters such as 'the', 'it', 'by', 'where', 'how', etc, as well as certain single digits and single letters because they often slow down your search without improving the results.
Stemming
Google search automatically uses stemming technology to find variants of certain words. For example, a search for 'apply' will return search results containing 'applies', 'applying', and 'application'.
Capitalisation
Google searches are not case sensitive. All letters will be understood as lower case regardless of how you type them. For example, searches for 'Capital Gains Tax', 'capital gains tax', and 'CapITAl gAinS tAX' will all return the same results.
NAT number and quick code searching
NAT numbers are numbers assigned to ATO publications. Each publication has a different NAT number. If you know the NAT number of the publication you are looking for just type the number in the search box. For example, the publication Guide to Capital Gains Tax is NAT number 4151. To find this publication you can search for 'nat4151'.
Quick codes are document identification numbers. Each document has a different quick code. If you know the quick code of the document you are looking for, type 'qc' and the quick code number in the search box. For example, the document Fringe Benefits Tax for Small Business is quick code 33353. To find this document you can search for 'qc33353'.
If you know both the NAT number and quick code for a document, you can search for either one. For example, the document Fringe Benefits Tax for Non-profit Organisations is NAT number 14947 and quick code 76166. Therefore, you can find the document by searching on either 'nat14947' or 'qc76166'.
Only current year forms and publications will be found by a basic search. To find forms and publications from previous years, refer to Searching for information from previous years.">
Too many or too few results
If your search returns too many results:
- use more specific search terms
- use the 'Search within results' option to search within a results list
- do a search within a specific area, a market segment for example, by searching from within one of the market segment tabs.
If your search does not return any results:
- make sure you have spelt all search terms correctly
- try different search terms to describe the information you are searching for
- try more general search terms.
Last Modified: Monday, 20 July 2009