From now on, every client will need to verify your photo identification to lodge your online tax return either with your driver license, passport or student ID. This is due to new regulations from the Australian Taxation Office (ATO), to have proof that we are acting on your behalf, and for the privacy and security purposes as follows:
ATO Regulations: For the 2020 financial year, the ATO now requires tax agents to verify at least one form of their client’s identification documents to pass the identity proofing level 2 (IP2) before lodging any tax returns. This will help the government to protect you and prevent any fraud that could happen to your tax account.
Cyber-attacks: Due to a large scale of cyber-attacks in 2020. ATO is concerned about any frauds that could potentially happen during 2020 tax financial year.
Prevent any fraud on your account: There is a chance that your tax account could be hacked, and the hacker can apply for a tax refund on your behalf with your name, email, phone number and Tax File Number (TFN). As of this, from now on One Click Tax require our clients to provide one form of ID to verify their identity before lodging any tax return with us.
Looking out for you: If someone is trying to get money from your tax refund, they will never pass the ID test if they don’t have your ID to verify.
Refund guaranteed safety: it might be an inconvenience at the beginning to verify one form of ID, but it guarantees that only you will receive your tax refund not anyone else.
If you need any further information regarding verifying your ID, please feel free to contact us at [email protected].