Internal ATO procedures for handling taxpayer complaints

Written by Claude Haiku 5.5 from the extracted text on 14 Oct 2026. It can miss or misread redacted and scanned pages. Check the source before relying on it.

This release comprises internal ATO operational guidance on handling taxpayer complaints, including the complaint guidelines, job aids and reference guides for Business Service Line (BSL) managed, cross-BSL and escalated complaints. It sets out the acknowledgment, ongoing contact and finalisation requirements, with acknowledgment due within three business days of receipt and resolution targeted within 15 business days (the Charter service commitment is 28 business days). Procedures cover proof of record ownership, reclassification of complaints as enquiries (including Director ID complaints), multiple taxpayer and repeat contact handling, Tax Ombudsman referrals with a 50-day status update trigger, and standard wording for upheld and not-upheld outcomes. Complainants are directed to the Complaints Hotline, the Tax Ombudsman, the Privacy Commissioner and the Compensation Hotline. The excerpt is partial, and no case volumes or outcome statistics appear in the text provided.