There will be many reasons why you are asked for a copy of your Tax Return and Notice of Assessment (NOA). These might include:
* Bank for lending purposes
* Solicitor for financial disclosure
* Insurance Broker to support income protection policy
just to name a few.
 
A Tax Return and a NOA are different documents. And dependent upon the purpose for which you need the return, you will generally need to supply both.
 
What is an Income Tax Return? 
 
Most people in Australia need to lodge an Income Tax Return each year.  
 
The purpose of a Tax Return is to report the income you have earned for the relevant financial year (being July to June) and any deductions you are claiming against this income. Not only do you report your income from your job, but you are also required to declare income from other sources such as bank account interest, rental income, or the sale of an asset that may have attracted capital gains tax.  
 
Your Tax Return is lodged with the Australian Taxation Office (ATO) and if you have paid too much tax throughout the year, you will receive a refund. If you have not paid enough tax, you will receive a bill for the amount you need to pay. 
 
What is a Notice of Assessment? 
 
A Notice of Assessment is the statement issued by the ATO after you have lodged your Income Tax Return.  
 
If you lodge your Tax Return electronically, either by yourself via myGov or through an Accountant (also known as a Tax Agent), you can expect to receive your Notice Assessment within around 2 weeks of lodging your Tax Return.  A NOA issued via paper will always take longer to come through because of the mail delays. 
 
A Notice of Assessment will show you: - 
  • Your taxable income for the year; 
  • The tax payable on your taxable income; 
  • Any credits that are applied to the tax payable; and 
  • The balance of tax payable or refundable. 
A NOA is a summary of your income tax return, but it doesn't show the detail. 
 
Getting a copy of your Income Tax Returns and Notices of Assessment 
 
If you lodge your Income Tax Return through your Accountant, they will be able to provide you a copy of both your Income Tax Return and Notice of Assessment if you request them. You will be supplied these at the finalisation of the preparation of your return, so be sure to hang onto them as you may incur costs for the re-issue of documents. 
 
You can also obtain a copy of your Tax Return and Notice of Assessment using your myGov account if it has been linked to the ATO. The ATO has provided instructions to link their page to your MyGov account  here.  
 
How to obtain a copy of your Income Tax Return and Notice of Assessment from MyGov 

Locating your Income Tax Return and Notice of Assessment can be difficult if you are not familiar with the ATO myGov page. To find these documents, you will need to do the following steps: 
 
  • Log in to your myGov account; 
  • Choose the Australian Taxation Office service; 
  • At the top of the page, click on ‘Tax’, then click on ‘Lodgements’ and then ‘Income tax’; 
  • Click on ‘History’ 
If you require a copy of the Income Tax Return, find the year for the return you need and click on ‘View details’. You will be taken a copy of the Income Tax Return for that year. If you scroll to the bottom of the Return, there is a ‘Printer-friendly version’ button. Click this button and from there you will be able to either print a copy of the Return or save a PDF copy of the Return. 
 
If you require a copy of the Notice of Assessment, you can choose this and it will download a PDF copy for you.