The NTAA recently made a written submission to the Inspector-General of Taxation and Taxation Ombudsman ('IGTO'), which was in response to the IGTO's 'Systemic review of the effectiveness of the ATO's registered agent phone line'. 

Editor: We recently sought member feedback in relation to the IGTO's review — refer to the March edition of Voice. Also refer to the article on page 6 of April edition of Voice. 

Based on NTAA member feedback, our key findings (as stated in our submission) can be summarised as follows: 

• The ATO's registered agent phone line is not delivering the professional support our tax agent members expect or require. 
• Wait times are excessive, often exceeding 20 minutes to over two hours, even for simple matters. 
• Frontline staff lack adequate training and authority, frequently providing incorrect advice or needing to escalate simple queries. 
• The escalation process is inconsistent and frequently results in dropped calls or unreturned follow-ups. 
• The Client-Agent-Linking ('CAL') system has introduced significant inefficiencies. 
• The overall decline in service standards, particularly since COVID-19 and the shift to remote work, has materially impacted agent productivity, taxpayer confidence and trust in the ATO. 

A copy of this written submission (which has been emailed to members) is on our website — click here.