Signing your tax return or verifying your identity
Signing your tax return or verifying your identity completes the process for lodging your tax return. How you do this varies depending on how you lodge your return. If you do not sign your tax return or complete the verification process your tax return is not considered lodged and it can lead to delays in you receiving your refund.
Verifying your identity when lodging online
To ensure your privacy we need to verify your identity before you can lodge online using e-tax. The details you need to verify your identity can be found on any notice of assessment you received from us in the last five years. You will need all of the following details from your previous notice of assessment to lodge online using e-tax:
- your full name exactly as it appears on your notice, including any middle names and the title, for example Mr, Mrs or Ms
- your given name exactly as it appears on your notice, for example MR JOHN R SMITH
- date of issue - this can be found on the top right hand side of your notice
- sequence number or reference number - this can be found on the top right hand side of your notice, below the date of issue.
I don't have a notice of assessment
If you don't have a notice of assessment because you have misplaced it or you have never lodged a tax return, you may be able to use other personal information to verify your identity. We use your TFN, name, date of birth and other information that is specific to you and is provided to us by certain organisations and institutions.
This information can include current and immediate prior year information from:
- bank accounts that have earned interest, provided 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.
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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 the ATO for processing. Refer to E-tax (paper lodgment) for instructions.
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Signing your tax return
You must sign and date the 'Taxpayer's declaration' on your tax return to confirm that the information on your tax return is true and correct.
Someone else may sign your tax return on your behalf if they have your authority under a power of attorney. A certified copy of the current power of attorney must be attached to your tax return if you have not previously lodged a certified copy with the ATO.
If you lodge your tax return but it is not signed, it is considered incomplete and we will send it back to you. If that happens, we consider that your tax return is lodged on the date it is returned to us complete.
If a registered tax agent prepares your tax return, you must also sign a declaration stating that:
- you have authorised the agent to lodge your tax return
- the information you provided to the agent for the preparation of the tax return is true and correct.
You are legally responsible for the accuracy of the information on your tax return.
Sections within How to lodge your tax return
Last Modified: Wednesday, 7 November 2012