How to use this document
This information is written in a way that is easy to read.
This document has been written by the Australian Taxation Office (ATO).
When you see the words 'we', 'us' or 'our' it means the ATO.
This is a short version of a longer document called Our Charter.
You can find the longer document at www.ato.gov.au/atocharter.
If you want to know more you can ask someone you trust to read the longer document with you.
Our Charter
Our Charter tells you:
- what we promise to do for you
- what you need to do
- what you can do if you are not happy with our decision or our service.
Our promise to you
We will be fair
We will respect you.
We will tell the truth.
We trust what you say is true.
We will ask questions if we are not sure about what you tell us.
We will give you some time to tell us about any mistakes.
We will help you
We can give you information to help you know what to do.
We will listen to you.
We will answer your questions.
We can give you support when hard things happen.
We will try to make our services easy for you to use.
We will help if you do not know how to use our services.
We will work with people that you have asked to help you.
Support
You can ask someone to help you when you talk to us.
Or you can ask someone to talk to us for you.
You must tell us who is helping you.
It is important you ask someone you trust.
You can ask a family member or someone who has a job helping people with tax.
We will keep your personal information safe
Information about you is called 'personal information'.
Your personal information is important.
We are serious about keeping your personal information safe online.
We will keep all your personal information safe.
We will only use your personal information when the law says we can.
You can ask to see the information we have about you.
Sometimes we will not be allowed to show you.
We will tell you
We will be open with you.
We will explain our decisions.
When making decisions about you we will tell you:
- where we are up to
- what your rights are
- the information we use to make the decision
- what you can do if you think we have made a mistake.
What we ask you to do
There are things the law says you must do.
- treat us with respect
- be polite
- answer our questions
- tell us the truth
- keep records from when you work with us
- give us all the information we ask for
- make sure you give us the right information
- tell us if your information changes
- keep your personal information safe
- tell us if someone is helping you with your tax.
Meet due dates
Sometimes you must do something by a date, this is called a 'due date'.
You might need to give us information or money.
If you cannot give us what we have asked for you must tell us before the due date.
If you think we made a mistake
You can tell us if you think we have made a mistake.
You can ask for someone else at the ATO to check the decision.
If you still think it is a mistake there are other government people you can ask to check our decision.
You can complain.
How to complain
If you are not happy with our service you can complain.
You will not get in trouble if you complain.
Your complaints help us to do better.
Tell an ATO officer or ATO manager what your complaint is.
We will try to work out the problem.
Your complaint is important.
We will try to help you quickly.
If this problem made you lose money you can talk to us to see if we can help.
Contact us
To talk to us, phone 13 28 61.
If you want information in your language contact the Translating and Interpreting Service on 13 14 50.
If you are deaf or have a hearing or speech disability you can use the National Relay ServiceExternal Link.
Easier to read information about what we must do and what you need to do when you deal with us.