Chartered Accountants Australia and New Zealand (CA ANZ) welcomes the Tax Ombudsman’s review into Online Services for Agents (OSfA). This review responds to member concerns about the limitations of OSfA and the registered agent phone line (RAPL).

OSfA is the preferred tool for members when dealing with the ATO, offering 24/7 access. However, members have raised concerns about its limitations, including restricted access to key client data, challenges generating reports, lack of real-time processing and updates, insufficient detail in responses, one-way Practice Mail, and no real-time two-way digital communication. These issues have led many tax agents to rely on the RAPL to engage with the ATO.

Members have consistently called for the ATO to make improvements to OSfA to reduce the administrative burden for both the ATO and tax practitioners. They want tax matters resolved quickly and efficiently. They also want a safe way to verify identity. In a CA ANZ survey, 43% of members working in practice identified OSfA as the top priority in the Tax Ombudsman’s Work Plan for 2026. CA ANZ has advocated for this review to ensure member voices are heard.

The review follows the Tax Ombudsman’s earlier examination of the RAPL, after which the ATO committed to reviewing its digital service offerings, including OSfA and Practice Mail.

Key member themes for improvement

During a Sharing Knowledge session in 2025 with the Tax Ombudsman, members identified several areas for improvement:

• Better access to information (i.e. an agent should broadly be able to see the same information about a client that the ATO can see) and customisation of information such as reports
• Online lodgement and form submissions for all return types
• Online chat and two-way communication
• Status tracking and real-time dashboards
• Faster responses and processing times
• Improved system reliability, less downtime before lodgements and longer login sessions
• Greater ability to generate updates based on practice.

These themes reflect the practical needs of agents and the desire for a more user-friendly, responsive platform.

The Tax Ombudsman’s OSfA review

The Tax Ombudsman’s review aims to identify practical improvements to OSfA and Practice Mail. The review seeks:

• Suggestions for specific improvements to OSfA and Practice Mail that better support agents to assist their clients
• Ideas to improve Practice Mail for secure, timely two-way communication
• Feedback on the top five priorities for improvement.

The review will also examine how the ATO identifies, prioritises and implements improvements, including how it responds to tax agent feedback.

Key Issues CA ANZ seeking to address

CA ANZ will make a formal submission to the review. Based on member feedback so far, key issues include:

• OSfA’s original design for digital service providers as a ‘user pays’ system
• The impact of system limitations on productivity for tax agents, taxpayers and the ATO
• The need to design and improve OSfA with a focus on the tax agent experience
• The importance of real-time communication and information exchange.

These points aim to ensure OSfA improvements meet the needs of agents.