How to verify your identity in e-tax

Overview

The following requirements are necessary for you to successfully verify your identity and lodge your e-tax return online.

If you …	then you need …
have an original or amended notice of assessment (NOA) with a date of issue after 1 May 2007 and before 26 May 2012	date of issue at the top right-hand side of your NOA sequence/reference number at the top right-hand side of your NOA, below the date of issue your name exactly as it says on your NOA.
do not have a notice of assessment with a date of issue after 1 May 2007 and before 26 May 2012	your tax file number (TFN) issued to you before 26 May 2012 your name your date of birth 'shared secret' (unique) information.

Watch the 'Verifying your identity in e-tax' video on our YouTube channel.

If you are unable to verify your identity, you will not be able to lodge your e-tax return online.

However, you can still prepare your tax return using e-tax. You will need to print it out and send it to us for processing. See E-tax 2012 paper lodgment for instructions

'Shared secret' information

'Shared secret' (unique) information is specific personal information relating to you that is provided to us by certain organisations and institutions.

The specific personal information we use for shared secret purposes can include current (2011-12) and immediate prior year (2010-11) information from:

bank accounts that have earned interest if you are an Australian resident for tax purposes; this information is provided by your financial institution
PAYG payment summaries; this information is provided by your employer
Centrelink payment summaries
dividend statements; this information is provided by the share registry.

If we ask you to provide shared secret information, the details you enter will need to match our records.

Shared secret information is provided to us progressively by information providers throughout the income year, with most available by mid-August.

If there is no shared secret information on our records when you are verifying your identity, you can try again later. However, if you have a NOA with a date of issue after 1 May 2007 and before 26 May 2012, you will be able to use details of that NOA to verify your identity.

Service maintenance

Maintenance of our systems occurs from time to time on a weekend, usually overnight. This may affect you if you use 'shared secret' information to verify your identity.

Leading up to a maintenance weekend, e-tax displays a message advising the dates and times when this will occur.

Last Modified: Thursday, 28 June 2012

Our commitment to you

We are committed to providing you with accurate, consistent and clear information to help you understand your rights and entitlements and meet your obligations.

If you follow our information and it turns out to be incorrect, or it is misleading and you make a mistake as a result, we will take that into account when determining what action, if any, we should take.

Some of the information on this website applies to a specific financial year. This is clearly marked. Make sure you have the information for the right year before making decisions based on that information.

If you feel that our information does not fully cover your circumstances, or you are unsure how it applies to you, contact us or seek professional advice.

Copyright

You are free to copy, adapt, modify, transmit and distribute this material as you wish (but not in any way that suggests the ATO or the Commonwealth endorses you or any of your services or products)