Notification of a deceased person

Get the form

Use this online form to officially notify us of:

• a person's death
• who will be managing the deceased estate

It takes up to 28 days to update the deceased person's records after we receive your finalised form.

Note: If you cancel or close the form before you submit it, any information you entered won't be saved.

Notification of a deceased person

What to do with this form

1. Complete the online form.
2. A summary screen will show once you submit the form. You will need to print this summary to take with you when you go to an Australia Post outlet.
3. Within 30 days of submitting the online form, go to a participating Australia Post outletExternal Link to provide identity verification. You will need to present:
   1. the printed summary of the form
   2. your supporting documents.

If you are a legal practitioner appointed by a legal personal representative, or you can't submit the online form or go to a participating Australia Post outlet, you can complete a paper form.

Show supporting documents to Australia Post

You will need to present your supporting documents at a participating Australia Post outlet.

The documents must be either the original documents or certified copies. You can take the supporting documents home with you after you have presented them.

You may need to present the following:

• Proof of your identity
• Death certificate
• Grant of probate or letters of administration
• A will (If you don't have probate or letters of administration)
• Change of name of the deceased person.

Proof of your identity

To prove your identity, you must provide one of the following proof of identity documents:

• Australian passport
• Foreign passport
• Australian Driver's Licence or Learner's Permit
• State or Territory Government Issued Proof of Age / Photo Card
• Australian Firearms Licence
• Student ID Card.

If you do not have one of these types of photo IDs, you may present an original Australian Birth Certificate or Citizenship Certificate.

Death certificate

If you don't intend to apply for a grant of probate or letters of administration, you need a death certificate to officially notify us of a person's death.

If you don't have a death certificate, contact the births, deaths and marriages registry in your state or territory to get one.

If the person died overseas, obtain a death certificate from the appropriate overseas authority.

If you're including a copy of a grant of probate or letters of administration in your notification form, you don't have to include a death certificate.

Grant of probate or letters of administration

The legal personal representative (LPR) has full authority to manage the deceased's tax affairs.

To be authorised as the LPR, you need to present either a:

• grant of probate (for an executor)
• letters of administration (for an administrator).

If more than one LPR needs to be added to the deceased's ATO account as an authorised contact, each of you will need to complete and submit your own online form to us.

If you're applying for a grant of probate or letters of administration, wait until you receive the court grant before submitting the Notification of a deceased person form. This will avoid delays in processing your request.

In some states, you apply for a grant of probate and letters of administration online and a paper version is not issued. These are stored electronically and can be accessed through the relevant Supreme Court website. You will need to:

• print the online document.
• ensure the printed document is certified by an approved certifier before presenting it to Australia Post.

If you submitted an official notification of death before you had the grant of probate or letters of administration, you can modify your form to provide these documents to us.

Once you provide us with a valid grant of probate or letters of administration, we'll:

• record you as the authorised LPR.
• enter your name in our records as the authorised contact for the deceased estate.
• provide you with a data package of the deceased's tax and super information for the past 3 income years.
• send you tax correspondence related to the deceased's estate.

A will (If you don't have probate or letters of administration)

If you have decided not to apply for probate or letters of administration, present the will to Australia Post (if there is a will).

We can:

• use the will to verify your role in the estate's tax affairs
• add your name to our records, with a note that you are managing the estate's tax affairs.

However, we won't record you as the LPR or authorised contact on the deceased person's record. This means there are legal restrictions on the information and funds we can release to you.

Change of name of the deceased person

If the deceased person's name is different to the name in the supporting documents, you will need to present evidence of the change of name. Present one of the following documents, issued by an Australian state or territory registrar of births, deaths and marriages:

• updated birth certificate (full certificate, not an extract)
• change of name certificate
• marriage certificate.

Help completing this form

The online form has help information.

Change a submitted form

If you need to change an online form you have already submitted, follow these steps:

1. Select Modify an existing deceased person formExternal Link from the Notification of a deceased person form home page.
2. Sign in using
   • the reference number you received when you previously submitted the form
   • your date of birth.
3. Update the details and submit the form again.
4. Print the new summary.
5. Go to a participating Australia Post to present the new summary and relevant documents.

What else you can do

You can complete a paper form and notify us by mail.

Do this if you are:

• unable to complete the online form
• unable to visit an Australia Post outlet
• a legal practitioner who has been appointed by an LPR.

Find out more about managing a deceased estate.

For details about the information we collect, see Privacy notice – Notification of a deceased person.