Australian Taxation Office Anmeldelser 

I had an extremely frustrating experience with the ATO app support team today.

Yesterday, I called this same support number but couldn’t complete the process because I didn’t have my identification with me. The agent I spoke with yesterday understood my issue immediately and advised me to call back once I had my ID.

Today, I called back with my ID ready, but the male agent I spoke to seemed to have no understanding of my enquiry. I clearly explained multiple times that I no longer have access to my old registered device, as the verification code was being sent to that device. Instead of addressing that issue, he repeatedly insisted that the phone number on file matched my records, despite me explaining that my problem wasn’t my phone number—it was the registered device.

After spending over 30 minutes on the phone going in circles, I was then told to call the ATO Tax Office. That made no sense, considering I was already calling the number provided by the ATO app, and the agent from this same department yesterday understood exactly what I needed assistance with.

It was incredibly disappointing to spend so much time explaining the same issue over and over, only to feel like I wasn’t being listened to. Customer service representatives should understand the services they support and, at the very least, listen carefully to what the customer is actually asking before providing advice. This experience was frustrating, time-consuming, and left my issue unresolved.

So much better now with more features and functionality. Faster, better UI and more information available on related to the ATO. A lot easier to find the information now.

But same as many Aus Govt websites, it takes too long to speak to a human or not available and need to waste an hour on hold on a phone call just to speak to someone. Needs better functionality built into website to allow more direct access to human staff. And cover all use cases.

If in Australia calling for an hour on hold is ok because charge is low. But many times when outside Australia and you need to call or contact the ATO and call and wait for an hour on hold is a massive waste and cost in roaming charges. So they need to make functionality that allows them to verify a person and chat to a live person via APP or this website.

We are Australia citizens, we should have this stuff built into here instead of being lazy and legacy and not thinking outside the box to implement ways to handle this for Australians not in Australia but needing to speak to ATO staff without the roaming charges.