How to join us online
We’re here to help make tax and super easier with a range of ways to engage with us online.
Social media
Follow us for tips and updates, or send us your general tax and super queries.
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Like usExternal Link on Facebook |
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Follow us on Instagram |
Follow usExternal Link on LinkedIn |
Discussion forum
Check out our peer-to-peer forum, ATO Community, to find answers or ask questions about tax and super.
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Become a memberExternal Link of ATO Community |
Engaging with us online
Our social media terms of use are designed to help you get the most out of your online experience with us. We aim to:
- ensure everyone's experience on our platforms is positive and productive – we reserve the right to ignore, block or delete questions or comments that don't follow these guidelines
- ensure our platforms are spaces where you can ask questions and share and discuss information – we don't use them to collect personal data about you. What you share is up to you, though we strongly encourage you to protect your information online
- respond to questions and comments as soon as we can. It may take us longer than usual to reply if we receive high volumes of questions.
We do not discuss your personal tax affairs on our social media channels or ATO Community. We can't guarantee it's safe to share your details online, even through private messages.
Keep it simple
Explaining and understanding tax and super can be tricky, so we ask everyone to use plain English when they post.
To support people from non-English speaking backgrounds, we have information in multiple languages on our Other languages page.
To discuss your personal tax information in your preferred language other than English, phone Translating and Interpreting Services on +61 3 9268 8332 between 8:00 am and 5:00 pm AEDT, Monday to Friday, and ask for the ATO.
Sharing information
Our online platforms are great places to share tax and super information and experiences. Be aware that sharing information and providing advice are different.
Sharing information is usually general in nature, whereas providing advice must consider individual circumstances and may differ from person to person. To provide financial advice under Australian law, you must be registered with a professional industry body such as the:
- Tax Practitioners BoardExternal Link
- Australian Securities and Investments Commission
- Australian Prudential Regulatory AuthorityExternal Link.
If you’re providing instructions to build wealth or avoid paying tax, we reserve the right to remove your comments to protect the community.
Intellectual property
Ideas, written and art works, inventions, names and images are all covered by intellectual property (IP) laws – including copyright. We’re required to remove any material found to be in breach of IP law and may be required to provide law enforcement with details.
You can share your own ideas and content – but if you reference someone else’s work, make sure you credit them.
If you see something, say something
We do our best to read new comments and questions, but sometimes things slip through the cracks. Report behaviour you think breaches our terms of use using available reporting functions; for example, using our Report inappropriate content button on ATO Community.
If you’ve reported a particular post or behaviour, we promise to look into it.
If you don’t see a response from us or see the expected change on a post or user, you don’t need to flag it again or take it up with the other person. We won't comment on actions we’ve taken as moderators – especially where they impact other users.
Social media terms of use
When you access our social media pages, you agree to comply with the terms and conditions of the social media platform you're using, as well as our terms of use. Posts made by users on our pages don't necessarily reflect ATO opinions or policy.
To ensure our platforms remain welcoming and useful for the community, we reserve the right to remove inappropriate material and comments that don't comply with our terms of use. This includes comments that:
- are irrelevant or excessive
- are inflammatory, defamatory or considered bullying and harassment
- would violate the law or that are currently the subject of legal proceedings
- are political in nature
- are commercial in nature
- reveal the personal information of individual taxpayers.
We reserve the right to hide comments, block users or turn off comments on a post where there are breaches to these terms of use.
If we see any comments that suggest someone wants to harm themselves or someone else, we’ll report it to the relevant authorities.
Responding to questions and comments
We're here to help. Where questions or comments adhere to our terms of use and we're able to provide information and support, we'll respond as soon as possible.
The ATO is governed by privacy legislation so we can't discuss information specific to your personal tax and super affairs through these channels. We can't discuss the tax or super affairs of other people, businesses or entities either.
If you have questions about your account details, you can phone us.
The information we provide through our online platforms is general information. While the information is current and accurate at the time of publishing, we recommend you check it's still current and relevant to your situation before using it to make decisions.
Protecting yourself online
To protect your privacy and the privacy of others, never publish or share personal information online, such as your date of birth, tax file number (TFN), bank account details, or personal contact details such as your home address.
Any information you post on our platforms is publicly viewable and searchable. What you post online may remain there forever and can be found through search engines and online archives. You can customise your social media security settings to ensure your profile can only be accessed by those you trust.
We'll never ask you to pay us money to receive your refund, and we'll never ask for confidential details, like your TFN, through online platforms, emails or SMS. Don't respond to these requests.
The messages we publish on our platforms may include links that direct you to more information on the ATO website and partner sites.
Remember to always check the target address (URL) of the page you are visiting to ensure the site is genuine.
Beware of ATO impersonators on social media
Scammers may respond to questions and comments on our social media posts.
Scammers may offer support and invite commenters to direct-message them. These scammers often use profiles that impersonate us and have our name and branding.
While our team remove these posts as quickly as they can and are working with the social media platforms to have these accounts removed, new accounts continue to emerge.
You'll know you're communicating with the real ATO if our:
- Facebook page shows the blue verification tick next to our account name
- Instagram page shows the blue verification tick next to our account name
- X account shows a grey check mark and the word 'Official' under our username.
To verify us on LinkedIn, ensure the account you’re engaging with:
- has the official ATO logo and organisational name next to the message – beware of slight variations on our name, like ‘Australia Tax Office’ rather than ‘Australian Taxation Office'
- has been posting on LinkedIn actively and for a long time
- provides you with email addresses that end with ‘.gov.au’
- doesn’t have typos or grammatical errors in its messages
- has a large number of account followers.
If you’re contacted by a social media account that may be impersonating us, don’t engage with it. Take a screenshot of the account or post and email it to ReportScams@ato.gov.au. You can also verify or report a scam and check our latest scam alerts.
We also have helpful information on: