IPA welcomes Ombudsman’s review into OSfA

The IPA said that the two reviews were intrinsically linked and welcomed the action to fix OSfA, noting that its current systems and processes were “less than ideal” in supporting tax practitioners.

“It is pleasing that the Tax Ombudsman is reviewing OSfA after its recent review of ATO’s registered agent phone line as these two reviews are intrinsically linked,” the IPA said.

“Tax practitioners overwhelmingly prefer to use self-service options rather than the time-consuming phone calls that take place in addition to or instead performing a task entirely online.”

The IPA raised three key issues with OSfA. Firstly, when things “fell off the conveyor belt” and were subject to further ATO processes, such as in the case of lodgment delays, practitioners were often left in the dark about progress and expected delivery time frames.

Next, it flagged “system deficiencies and a lack of responsiveness” of Practice Mail, the only secure channel available for tax practitioners to communicate with the ATO in managing a range of routine tasks.

OSfA also had limited self-service functionality for routine tasks such as changing correspondence delivery preferences, amending activity statements, managing tax accounts and visibility, reporting functions, and payment remittance numbers.

CPA Australia and the NTAA raised similar issues in their submissions to the Ombudsman’s review, flagging a dearth of self-service options and opaque, slow communication through Practice Mail.

Speaking to Accountants Daily, tax ombudsman Ruth Owen said that modernising OSfA could be a ‘win-win’ situation for tax agents seeking simpler channels to get their work done, and for the ATO, overwhelmed with call demand. 

“One of the overwhelming comments that came to me was actually [that] agents really don't want to be using the phone. They would love to just get all their work done online through the online services,” she said.

“I feel like there's a real win-win here. So the Tax Office clearly wants call demand to go down because it's overwhelmed with calls. The agents say their preferred channel is online, but only if ATO could make certain things available online.”

The IPA echoed this sentiment, adding that the changes would also benefit clients by speeding up tax agents’ processes.

“These reviews are a win, win, win scenario. Good for the ATO as improvements in digital self-serve functionality will reduce volume of calls for the registered phone line allowing it to deploy resources elsewhere,” it said. 

“Good for tax practitioners as it enables them to efficiently and more effectively assist clients to comply with their tax obligations in a timely manner. Good for clients if tax practitioners face less bureaucratic inefficiencies.”