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After time spent working with the ATO, the Australian Bookkeepers Association (ABA) has worked with the ATO to secure an important change to the CAL process to reduce the threat of BAS Agents having their clients kicked out of their OSfA (delinking).
As advocate for thousands of Australian BAS Agents, leading industry association, the Australian Bookkeepers Association (ABA) has reached out to the ATO to fix a problem with the new Client Agent Linking (CAL) process which has lost bookkeepers clients and caused significant BAS Agent, client and tax agent frustration.
Since the updated CAL was introduced in November 2023, the ABA has raised concerns with the ATO about the overly complicated new process. Issues reported in numerous ABA news articles include client difficulty with the Relationship Authorisation Manager (RAM), client resistance to the process with delays to onboarding new clients, and lodgements and payments falling into arrears.
The ABA assessed that among the most urgent changes required was to fix a glitch in the Online Services for Agents (OSfA) system, which could lead to Tax Agents inadvertently removing their clients’ BAS Agent’s access to OSfA (“de-linking”).
De-linking leaves BAS Agents unable to perform some basic business functions for their clients, like STP payroll reporting, Activity Statement lodgement, SBSGCH lodgement and/or dealing with the ATO on their client’s behalf. Until clients successfully re-nominate their BAS Agent, these essential processes are impaired.
ABA Director and Co-chair of the ATO’s BAS Agent Association Group, Kerrie Jarius, alongside ABA Director, Peter Thorp, have successfully rallied to bring to the ATO’s attention the confusion caused by screens in the previous agent onboarding process.
Hats off to the ATO who listened and worked with their tech team to modify the onboarding screens in OSfA when a client is being added to a tax agent’s OSfA.
“After demonstrating the process to ATO personnel to explain the problem, the ATO agreed that change was needed,” said Kerrie.
“As a result, the ATO built more messaging, including pop-up screens, to Tax Agents when onboarding clients. This, it is hoped, will minimise the chance of de-linking. It improves the communication with Tax Agents to show them how to step through the nomination acceptance process without further risk of disruption.
“This is a significant step forward to negotiations with the ATO to resolve issues caused by this new CAL process,” continued Kerrie. “While we support the intent of the new CAL process to enhance cyber security, it’s important to balance this better with prioritising efficiency and limiting red tape that can be detrimental to individual bookkeepers and their clients.”
To align your bookkeeping business with one of Australia’s largest bookkeeper and BAS Agent industry lobby, the ABA invites you to become a member today.
