Your responsibilities
Your responsibilities as a Tax Help volunteer include:
- reading and abiding by the Conditions of Participation you have signed
- recording your Tax Help volunteer ID number and the Centre ID number on all tax returns you lodge
- keeping within the scope of the program
- only providing Tax Help services at an authorised location and at authorised times
- maintaining confidentiality and professionalism in all dealings with clients
- not advising or calculating a client’s tax liability or refund
- confirming appointments with your centre at least the day before
- ensuring that appointment records and disclaimers are completed and returned to your Tax Help Centre coordinator on completion of each day’s appointments
- maintaining contact with Tax Help
- ensuring reimbursement claims are submitted to us at the end of each month
- submitting administrative information to us on time.
Code of conduct
The Code of Conduct requires that a Tax Help volunteer must:
- behave honestly and with integrity
- be punctual and reliable
- advise us of anything that may reasonably affect our decision to allow you to participate in the program (such as a charge or conviction of a criminal offence)
- notify in advance any changes to your availability or personal circumstances
- display professionalism and courtesy in all interactions
- maintain confidentiality about dealings with clients
- work within the guidelines of the Tax Help program
- follow work, health and safety protocols
- abide by the rules, policies and guidelines of your Tax Help centre.
Tax Help limitations
As a Tax Help volunteer you are trained to help clients with simple tax affairs. You can't help clients who:
- don't meet the eligibility requirements for Tax Help
- have any questions about the progress of their tax return after it has been lodged
- have any questions about their notice of assessment.
Volunteers are not permitted to accept reimbursement, payment, gifts or other recompense from clients or on behalf of the centre in return for help. Penalties apply for anyone charging a fee for a service as a Tax Help volunteer.
If you're unable to help a client, you may suggest they see a tax agent. However, you can't refer a client to a particular agent or practice.
You may refer them to the National Tax Clinic program. This is a government-funded initiative to help people who may not be able to afford professional advice and representation with their tax affairs.
Protecting personal information
Client information must remain confidential. Appointments must be conducted in a private area.
Ensure clients take all personal information with them at the end of the appointment. Never keep client details or documents, even if the client is returning to the centre for further help.
Make sure you:
- lodge online returns in the presence of the client.
- delete all files about the client from the computer before they leave.
Your ATO contact
Tax Help will keep in contact with you and your Tax Help centre throughout tax time.
Contact Tax Help for assistance with:
- training and assessments
- administrative tasks or reimbursement claims
- ATO equipment
- any other enquiries or issues (except those which should be directed to the ATO Tax Help hotline and myTax helpline).
Tax Help will also conduct quality assurance processes and reviews on tax returns and forms and may give you feedback if required.
Integrity checks are also done by other areas of the ATO. You may be asked to help these processes by identifying the tax returns you prepare and providing us with information on online lodgments.
Any feedback you have or that you receive from your clients can be sent to CEAtaxhelp@ato.gov.au.
ATO support
Tax Help volunteers have access to an ATO Tax Help hotline number. If you have tax related questions while you're assisting a client, contact the hotline number. You'll be given this number once you've completed your training.
Calls from Tax Help volunteers are given priority. The hotline is available Monday to Friday 8:00 am to 8:00 pm to support you while you are helping clients.
Always identify yourself as a Tax Help volunteer and quote your volunteer ID number if requested. Inform the operator that you have a client with you and need to have the enquiry attended to immediately.
Politely refuse any requests to accept a call back later to answer your query.
Don't allow the operator to end the phone call without giving an answer to your question.
If the operator is unable to answer your question, ask to speak to their supervisor and put your question to the supervisor.
The hotline number is for Tax Help volunteer use only.
Clients should phone us on the ATO Individual Infoline 13 28 61.
Taxpayers’ rights and obligations
We have a responsibility to help taxpayers understand their rights and obligations and to meet acceptable standards of service delivery. The ATO Charter outlines these rights, obligations and standards.
As a Tax Help volunteer, you can pass on this valuable information to your clients.
Clients you can help
As a volunteer you can only help clients with an income of $70,000 or less who have simple tax returns and claims.
Your clients may include (but are not limited to):
- a student with casual employment
- a young person who has just started their first full time job
- a new migrant to Australia
- a person who speaks little or no English
- an international student
- a backpacker with a working holiday visa
- a salary or wage earner
- a person earning superannuation or dividend income
- a person receiving income from Centrelink
- a person with a disability.
Regardless of their situation, Tax Help clients all have one thing in common – the need for help with their tax return. Most will require help with both the information they need to enter in their tax return and with online lodgment.
Clients you can't help
As some areas of the tax return can be quite complex, the Tax Help program is limited to clients with simple tax affairs.
You can't help the client if they:
- ran their own business or used an Australian business number (ABN)
- operated under a labour hire agreement and quoted their ABN
- received any royalties
- received income from either a public unit trust or a public trading trust
- owned or shared ownership in a rental property
- made a capital gain or capital loss by selling shares or other capital assets
- received any foreign income, other than a foreign pension or annuity
- has income from an employee share scheme.
Your Tax Help centre should ensure that appointments are only made for eligible clients. Clients with more complex tax matters should be encouraged to seek advice from the ATO or a tax agent. They can also contact the National Tax Clinic program.
What help can you give
It's the client’s responsibility to provide documents and information required to complete their tax return. You can only help the client if you have the relevant information.
As a Tax Help volunteer you can:
- answer basic tax related questions
- decide if the client needs to lodge a tax return or claim
- help the client to complete
- a tax return
- a refund of franking credits claim
- a non-lodgment advice
- an amendment (for 2015 returns and later) – provided more than 2 years has not passed since the date on the notice of assessment for the relevant income year
- refer the client to the ATO if you're unable to help them.
You'll need to:
- sort documents and ensure they relate to the client and to the appropriate income year
- decide which information is needed for the tax return
- ask appropriate questions to ensure clients supply enough information so the relevant deductions and offsets can be claimed.
As a volunteer you must be prepared to:
- help clients with myGov, including creating a myGov account if needed
- lodge the tax return online with myTax, except in exceptional and limited circumstances
- get the client to sign a disclaimer form.
Tax Help volunteers should always encourage the client to complete their own tax return while you guide them through the screens. Always give the client the option first but don't force them. Some people aren't comfortable using computers and will prefer that you do the tax return for them.
Return to: Tax Help program training.