Connection 5 of 5 · The ATO
Online services for business: the ATO’s portal, menu by menu
Rests on: the ATO’s Online services for business user guide, with its pages on logging in and the Profile menu.
Online services for business is where a business does its reporting and transactions with the ATO online, and a person signs in to it with myID. What they can do once inside depends on their Access Manager permissions.
General information about the ATO’s online service, not tax advice for any business. The ATO is the official place to check.
A person’s myIDOnline services for businessATO
Connection 5: the business’s own window on its ATO accounts.
01 Who it is for
The ATO says Online services for business is the default online service for businesses, not-for-profits, other organisations and approved self-managed super fund (SMSF) auditors, and that SMSF trustees who have an ABN can also use it.
The ATO’s list of who needs a Digital ID and RAM goes wider than this one service. It also covers anyone who uses Access Manager, uses other government online services for business such as the Australian Business Register, needs to authorise others such as employees to act online for the business, or is a tax professional using Online services for agents.
Someone new to the ATO’s online services first sets up their myID and links it to the business in RAM. The guide to myID and RAM covers both steps.
02 Logging in
- Enter an email address on the login screen. A 4-digit code then appears on that screen.
- Enter the code in the myID app. The ATO says the app is used only for this log in step.
- Save often. The system logs out after 20 minutes of inactivity, and a timed-out user simply logs in again.
The set-up is done once; after that the same myID is used each time. What a person can do once inside depends on their Access Manager permissions, and Access Manager can be used to customise someone’s access and permissions to ATO services.
03 The menus
| Menu | What it is for |
|---|---|
| Accounts and payments | Viewing account details, asking for a transfer or refund, and making payments or payment plans. |
| Lodgments | Lodging a range of forms and statements. |
| Employees | Managing most employer obligations. |
| Communication | Writing to the ATO by Secure mail. |
| Profile | Managing business details, and registering for GST, PAYGW, PAYGI, LCT, WET and FTC. |
| Approved SMSF auditors | Lodging audit complete advice (ACA) and auditor contravention reports (ACR) online. |
04 Inside the Profile menu
Tax registrations. GST, PAYG withholding, PAYG instalments, luxury car tax, wine equalisation tax and fuel tax credits can be added, updated or cancelled here. A cancellation asks for the date it takes effect and the reason.
Business details. Sole traders can update their address, phone number and email address here; other entities can update their names, unless they are a government entity or a company registered with ASIC. Some details, such as the company name or public officer, must be updated on the Australian Business Register instead.
Authorised contacts. These are people allowed to phone the ATO and act for the business, and there is no limit to how many can be added. For a contact to deal with the ATO through Online services for business and see the business’s records, they also need to be authorised in RAM. Primary contacts, once called entity representatives, can reach every role on the business’s account and add, remove and update the list of authorised contacts; other contacts can hold authority for one account, or for one role such as GST.
Email addresses. The addresses the ATO writes to when an activity statement is ready can be viewed, added, updated and deleted, account by account.
Card details. Up to 4 debit or credit cards can be saved for future payments.
05 Nominating a tax or BAS agent
To strengthen security, the ATO introduced an agent nomination process for every entity with an ABN except sole traders. It applies when changing a registered tax agent, BAS agent or payroll service provider, or changing an existing one’s authorisations. A sole trader’s agent adds or removes themselves through their existing process instead. A business may nominate more than one agent to manage different tax accounts.
- In Profile, open Agent details, then the Agent nominations feature, and select Add.
- Search by the agent’s registered agent number (RAN) or practice name, select the right agent and check their details.
- Complete the declaration and submit.
- Tell the agent. The ATO doesn’t notify them automatically, and they have 28 days from the nomination to add the business as a client.
If the agent needs longer, the Extend feature becomes available on the next calendar day after the nomination, and an extension adds 28 calendar days from the time it is submitted. A nomination that has already expired can’t be extended, and has to be made again. To remove a registered tax professional, a business nominates a new agent or contacts the ATO.
06 Reporting from software
The ATO says that with cloud-based Standard Business Reporting (SBR) enabled software, no additional steps are needed for access because the software provider does this, while desktop or locally hosted software may need additional steps, set out on RAM’s page about machine credentials. Single Touch Payroll reports also come from software: STP-enabled payroll or accounting software sends them to the ATO when the payroll is run.