To supposedly reduce the risks in the community for tax administration matters, the ATO has brought in a new method to link clients to their Agent. They have created a system where you have to have a MyID (formerly MyGovID) in order to appoint or nominate a tax agent to help you with your tax affairs. Since the introduction of this infographic there have already been changes as they people who use these processes have demonstrated that they are unworkable in some respects.

But never let practicality stand in the way of a bureaucrat and the process they want to introduce.

Here are the new steps that someone needs to follow to nominate an agent. 

1. Obtain a MyID. Further information on this can be found here (Link - https://www.myid.gov.au/ )
2. Link your MyID to your ABN.
3. Log into Online Services for Business (Link - https://onlineservices.ato.gov.au/business/BusinessLogin.html )
4. When inside the OSFB, you need to nominate the agent. While inside the site you may need to obtain your Tax File Number (accessible in the top right corner under your name). 
5. Let us know that this has been done and then we can then add you as a client to our agent portal. 

We are not notified of nominations, so please be sure that you tell us that you've done this. We will often need to get your Tax File Number as well but for privacy reasons we normally get these details over the telephone or through Karbon (not normal email). 

If any of these steps don't work you will need to contact the ATO and speak with an Agent in relation to the linking. 

If your identity is not able to be raised to the 'Strong' standard, then we may need to lodge a manual request. Just get in touch and we can send you through the manual forms for signature.