Introduction: Simplifying Your Tax Management

Are you a business owner looking to change accountants? While the process is straight forward, it’s not as easy as it once was.

Previously, your new accountant would be able to add your business to their Tax Agent list as long as they had written authorisation. However, the ATO have now introduced Client-Agent linking, meaning the authorisation must be given digitally by the business owner through the ATO’s Online Services  for businesses.

This step-by-step guide will help you seamlessly connect with your tax professional. Let’s get started!

Step 1 – Ensure you have access to Online Services each of your businesses

If you already have done this step then you can ignore step 1. You will know if you’ve done it if you can generally access each of your entities / businesses using Online Services for Businesses.

If you have not done this step, you will need to do the below:

1. Setup your myGovID
   Ensure your identity reaches at least a ‘Strong’ strength level. (Note: If you can’t get to
   Strong, please contact ATO on 1300 287 539 or read more here)
2. Link your myGovID to your ABN
   To link your entities / businesses to your myGovID, you’ll need to use the Relationship Authorisation Manager (RAM) process. RAM is where you can manage your business authorisations and user access.
   Please note, you’ll need to be a principal authority for the entity /business to do this.
   In this process you can provide others with the authority to represent your entity / business.Please note for Trusts with Corporate Trustees: When trying to link up in RAM, if you’re not listed as an associate for the
   entity on the Australian Business Register you won’t be able to link to in RAM. This is common if the Trust has a Corporate Trustee.
   This requires the ATO to manually link them on ATO side and may require a phone call to the ATO to assist.

Step 2 – Link your nominated Agent to your business

This step is what gives authority for your new accountant to access the business records. You will need to do this for each of your entities / businesses:

1. Go to Online Services for Business
2. Nominate the Agent you want to link
   1. Select the entity / business
      
   2. Profile > Agent Details
      
   3. Agent Nominations > Nominate Agent
      
   4. Search for the Registered Agent Number or Practice Name
   5. Select the Agent you want to nominate
   6. Submit

Step 3 – Notify your new Tax Agent

Once the above process has been done for each entity / business – let your Tax Agent know, they will then have a window of time (28 days) to process the nomination.

You can find more information and details directly from the ATO website here.