Client communication

There are two features you can use to access your clients' communications in Online services for agents:

• Client mail inbox – if you have set your clients' communication preferences to your practice, you can view our digital communications here.
• Communication history – allows you access to a list of most communications we have issued to your clients.

Communication preferences

Communication preferences is a feature in Online services for agents that lets you and your client choose where our digital communications are sent.

We created Communication preferences to respond to your feedback about:

• sending communications directly to a client's myGov Inbox
• reducing the amount of paper you receive from us.

Find out about:

• Using Communication preferences
• Client authorisation requirements
• Setting preferences
• How to provide feedback
• Communication types

Using Communication preferences

You can set a client's Communication preferences to reflect their circumstances and your engagement with us. It is not compulsory to use this feature. You can choose to apply preferences to as many or as few clients as you wish.

Communication preferences will not change activity statement lodgment channels or who will receive activity statement notifications.

Before setting your client's communication preferences you must:

• be appointed by the client as their registered agent
• have their written authority to set the communication preferences
• have set default Communication preferences for your practice.

In addition to your Practice mail inbox, Communication preferences introduces a new mailbox called the Client mail inbox in Online services for agents. It enables you to view in real time what digital communications we are sending you on your clients' behalf. You can also continue to run reports in Communication history to view communications.

If your client’s preference is:

• for their communications to be sent to your practice
  • your client's preferred address for service for these communications will be Online services for agents
  • we will send these communications to you in Online services for agents – you will be responsible for notifying your client about these communications
  • your client will no longer receive a notification in their myGov Inbox that they have mail.
   
• to receive their communications directly
  • we will continue to send communications to their myGov Inbox (if they have a myGov account linked to the ATO) or to the postal address we have on record
  • you will not receive a notification in your Client mail inbox that a communication has been sent to your client.
   

You and your clients will still be able to view most communications in Communication history in ATO online services.

We'll continue to send communications as we do now if you don't set your client's communication preferences.

Tax agents can set preferences for six Communication types (based on a client's authorisation):

• income tax
• activity statement related
• study and training support loans
• superannuation
• debt
• employer and business obligations.

BAS agents can only set preferences for two communication types:

• activity statement related
• debt.

Some communications cannot be sent digitally. These will continue to be sent by post. However, we will progressively enable more communications to be sent digitally over the coming years.

Find out about:

• Client authorisation requirements
• Setting preferences
• How to provide feedback
• Communication types

Client authorisation requirements

You should only set communication preferences for communication types a client has authorised you to act on. Before you set or update their communication preferences, ensure you have clear and written authorisation from a client.

You should talk to your client and agree on what communications you will receive on Online services for agents (on their behalf) and what they will receive and action. For example, Online services for agents allows you to set a client’s communication preferences for you to receive debt communications. If this is not a service you provide, you may not want to receive your client's debt communications and choose to set communication preferences for this Communication type to Client.

You should also let your client know what happens if they want you to set their communication preferences to either you as their agent or themselves.

You can view a client's digital communications relevant to your role in Communication history but it will not alert you when new communications are received if the communication preference is set to your client.

In this section:

• Preferred address for service
• Agent and client declaration requirements
• How to obtain written authorisation from your clients
• Written authorisation example

Preferred address for service

Every taxpayer is required to give us at least one preferred address for the service of ATO communications. If taxpayers want to nominate, change or withdraw their preferred address for service they must lodge an approved form.

The preferred address for service must be in Australia and can be:

• a physical address (for example, a street address)
• a postal address (for example, a post office box)
• an electronic address (for example, a secure website).

When a taxpayer registers for a myGov account and links it to the ATO, their myGov Inbox becomes their preferred address, as stated in the terms and conditions.

When you set or change a client's communication preferences to your Practice, you are designating Online services for agents as their preferred address for certain ATO correspondence.

Agent and client declaration requirements

When you set or change your client’s communication preferences in Online services for agents, legally you are lodging an approved form on their behalf to change their preferred address (or addresses) for the service of ATO communications.

Because of this, and before you set or update a client’s communication preferences, the law requires you to:

• receive express written authority (either electronically or on paper) from your client stating that they have authorised you to change or withdraw their preferred address for service
• provide a declaration that
  • you have received express written authority from your client to change or withdraw their preferred address for service
  • you are setting or updating the client's communication preferences in accordance with the information supplied by your client
  • you have received a declaration from your client stating the information provided to you is true and correct.
   

Each time you set or change your client’s communication preferences, you will be asked to tick a declaration box.

A client is required to retain the written authorisation and declaration (or a copy) they give you for up to five years, depending on their circumstances. We recommend you also keep a copy for your own records.

The written authorisation and declaration can be stored electronically regardless of whether it was received by email or in paper form.

How to obtain written authorisation from your clients

When you engage a new client, you could incorporate their written authorisation into your letter of engagement. You may ask them to provide this by email, fax or in paper form.

For existing clients, it may be more efficient to ask for their written authorisation via email or during your next interaction with them.

To meet the legal requirements, we recommend clearly explaining to your client which ATO communication types you want sent digitally to you and which will be sent directly to them.

If your client is responsible for multiple entities, they can provide written authorisation for you to set the communication preferences for more than one entity at the same time, if the authorisation:

• is provided by the primary contact – for example an individual, trustee or director
• clearly states the communication preferences for each entity and communication type.

If you represent your client in both their capacity as an individual and trustee – for example, for their family trust – then their written authorisation (as a primary contact) will need to clearly state their communication preferences relating to their individual and trust tax affairs.

Written authorisation example

This is an example you could use for obtaining a client’s written authorisation to set their communication preferences. Alternatively, you could combine this information with other written authorisations, such as new client or lodgment declarations.

Note: You are not required to obtain written authority for Activity statement lodgment notifications. These are a notification that the activity statement is ready to lodge, not the lodgment itself.

Find out about:

• Setting preferences
• How to provide feedback
• Communication types

Setting preferences

Before setting a preference, consider if its functionality will benefit your entire practice.

You need to set default communication preferences for your practice before you can set any communication preferences for your clients. This allows you to set, at the practice level, the default communication preferences (or favourites) that can be applied to your clients. This is particularly useful if your practice has multiple clients with similar requirements.

In this section:

• Setting default communication preferences
• Setting client communication preferences
• Client mail inbox

Setting default communication preferences

Only a Principal Authority or an Authorised Administrator can set and change default communication preferences. When the default is set for the first time, these settings will not be applied to your clients.

How to set your default communication preferences:

• At the agent home page, select Communication then Preferences.
• Select Practice or Client to determine who we should send communications to for each communication type.
• Select Apply.

To change your default communication preference, you will need an updated written authorisation from any clients who have your default setting. The default preferences will be automatically updated for all clients who had the default setting originally applied.

You can download a list of your clients that you have set with default preferences, by selecting:

• Advanced search and filter by:      
  • Communication type – select the communication type (you can only filter one type at a time)
  • Destination – select Set to my practice default
   
• Download and save the search results as a HTML or CSV file.

Setting client communication preferences

To set a client's communication preferences, you must have access to update client addresses in Access Manager.

You can either apply your default preferences or set personalised communication preferences tailored to each client in Online services for agents. This is useful if you have clients with communication needs that are different to your other client's communication preferences.

Communication preferences can be added:

• to a client when you add them to your client list
• individually in their Profile page
• to up to 25 clients at a time using the Bulk preferences functionality.

You must receive written authority from your client before you can set or update their communication preferences.

You can set communication preferences for a single client, if you:

• select a client
• at the Client summary select Profile then Communication preferences
• then select either      
  • My practice default communication preferences
  • a combination of Practice or Client to determine who we should send your client's communications to for each communication type.
   

To use the Bulk preferences function you:

• select Communication then Bulk preferences
• can create a list of up to 25 clients
• select Apply default communication preference or a combination of Practice or Client to determine who we should send these clients' communications to for each communication type
• select Submit.

Note: Setting a client’s communication preferences to Practice, will designate Online services for agents as the client’s preferred address for service for certain ATO communications.

Client mail inbox

The Client mail inbox allows you to view your clients' communications that have been sent to you digitally.

You can access the mailbox when you:

• customise the home page in Online services for agents to add the Client mail feature. This will show you when there are new unread communications in the inbox.
• select Communication then Client mail.

The inbox will display the last 35 days of undeleted communications. It can be filtered by client, date or communication type.

You can also retrieve up to 60 days of undeleted communications.

The inbox will not have all your clients' communications, but only those communication types where the preference is set to you. You will need to check Communication history for:

• communications sent to your clients
• other communication types such as SMS and paper.

Any communication sent to Online services for agents will be visible in your:

• Client mail inbox
• Communication history (previously called the Client Communication List (CCL))
• client's Communication history.

Find out about:

• Communication history
• Feedback on communication preferences

Communication history

The Communication history function in Online services for agents gives you online access to most communications we have issued to your clients or you as their agent.

You can:

• view most letters, emails and SMS messages
• access communications from 1 July 2008
• view communications that have been sent digitally, even when they have been deleted from the Client mail inbox.

Not all our communications with you and your clients are available in the Communication history. However, we will continue to add more communications types to enhance this function further.

You can use filters in the Communication history to view:

• All clients, one client or up to three clients at a time
• Time period – Last 24 hours, Last 7 days, Last 30 days, 5 years (not available for All clients search) or Choose dates
• communications in periods of up to five years
• Channel – myGov, Email, SMS, Paper, Agent digital or ATO Online.

You can also view a specific client's communication history when you are in their account by selecting Profile then Communication history.

Below are some of the communications available.

Tax agents can access:

• notices, such as notices of assessment
• statements of account
• payment arrangement letters
• payment or lodgment reminders
• letters about PAYG instalments
• letters about super contributions from employers
• referral warning letters
• tax receipts.

BAS agents can access:

• payment arrangement letters
• payment or lodgment reminders
• letters about GST registrations
• letters about PAYG instalments.

Feedback on communication preferences

If you have any feedback about the Communication preferences or Communication history features, let us know by using the Give us feedback link located at the bottom of each screen in Online services for agents.

Find out about:

• What we do with your OSfA feedback

The Communication preferences and Communication history functions in Online services for agents can let you access the digital communications we send your clients.