- Registered agents represent around 62% of individual taxpayers and 96% of non-individual taxpayers.
- Online Services for Agents (OSfA) is a secure digital platform provided by the ATO for registered agents and their authorised staff. The proportion of agents who said OSfA, met all or most of their needs fell from 76% in 2022 to 63% in 2026.
- Agents and the ATO would prefer to use digital channels that complement business software and reduce the volume of calls.
- There are limitations of what agents can complete in OSfA which creates inefficiencies and frustration, with agents needing to call the ATO to complete a transaction.
- In some cases, agents must request information from the ATO that already exists digitally, requiring ATO staff to manually prepare reports that could potentially be provided through self-service.
- The administrative burden on agents impacts the efficiency and productivity of their practice and can impact client fees – thus increasing the cost of compliance for taxpayers.
- There are almost 100 OSfA-related changes awaiting action in the ATO backlog of system improvements. Some improvements have sat on the list since before 2022 without progressing.
- Stand-alone improvements to OSfA often struggle to progress in the ATO’s change program prioritisation unless they become part of a larger ATO project.
- Practice Mail is a web portal designed as a channel for agents to send requests to the ATO, not to support ongoing two-way communication with agents. It no longer meets the needs of agents who require more immediate two-way communications and broader functionality.
- Agents expect a quality, modern digital service offer from the ATO – which will minimise the administrative burden and expense for themselves, their clients and the ATO itself.
