My practice

Favourite clients

The Favourite clients feature lets you add to your home page a list of clients you regularly access. You can then select the identifier in the list to go directly to the client summary. The list is saved against your login so you can customise the list to meet your needs.

You can add up to 30 clients. Clients will display in alphabetical order.

You can also add or remove clients from the favourite feature, client summary or advanced search.

Your home page must be customised before creating a list. You'll only need to do this once.

To add or remove clients:

• from the Favourite client feature, select More. To remove a client, select X
• from the Client summary screen, select or deselect the Favourite star
• from an Advanced search, select or deselect the Favourite star next to the client's name.

When a client is removed from your client list, it doesn't automatically remove them from your Favourite clients list – you'll need to do this manually.

Add client

We're progressively introducing a new step in the client-to-agent linking process where a client will need to complete an agent nomination in Online services for business before you can add them or change existing authorisations. More information about who is included is available in our Client-to-agent linking in online services information.

To add a client:

• select My practice then Add client or use the Add client quick link
• at Find a client
  • select your client type, Individual or Non-individual
  • select an identifier – TFN, ABN EIN or WPN (BAS agents won't have an EIN option)
  • type the identifier number and
    • for individuals – type the client's date of birth
    • for non-individuals – if using a TFN, type their name or ABN
• select Search
  • repeated attempts to enter an incorrect identifier or date of birth may affect your ability to add the relevant client record
  • You may receive one of these messages
    • 'You are not authorised at this time to access this account. Contact your client to confirm the Agent nomination has been actioned' (find more information at Client-to-agent linking in online services)
    • 'There's an issue with this client record. Contact us to discuss.' or 'Your transaction can't be completed. Contact us to discuss'. For more information see Reactivating inactive client records
• select the declaration
  • I confirm that I have a signed authority from this client to act on their behalf
  • If you are adding a deceased client, 'I confirm that I am aware this client is deceased and that I am the executor or administrator of their estate with grant of probate or letters of administration or I am authorised to act on their behalf'. You need authorisation to access a deceased person's tax and super information
• select Next
  Note: if you're a tax agent trying to add a non-individual by using an ABN, a nudge message will appear to alert you that if you would like to represent them for income tax purposes you should use a TFN as the identifier instead. You will then be given the option to press 'Yes' to continue or 'No' to go back to the previous page and update your responses.
• at the Authorisation screen select the account you would like to authorise
  • Income tax (BAS agents won't have this option)
    • You'll be authorised to act on behalf of the client for all of the client's accounts and no further action is required
    • If there's another BAS or tax agent authorised to act on behalf of the client for an Activity statement or GST joint venture account there'll be an existing agent link displayed against that account. Don't remove the agent unless you have authorisation from the client to do so
  • Specific accounts – select the account
    • You'll be authorised for the specific accounts selected.
    • If there is an existing agent link displayed only select the account if you have authorisation from the client to do so.
    • If you remove the existing agent link in error the previously linked agent needs to re-add the link
• select Next.

Note:

• If you're trying to add a client for income tax purposes and select an Activity statement or GST joint venture account, a nudge message will appear to advise that
  • the income tax account already gives you access to all accounts
  • any agent's existing access to the selected accounts will be removed
  • to press 'Yes' to continue or 'No' to go back to the Authorisation screen and update your responses
• If you're a tax agent adding a client using an ABN or a BAS agent adding a client with more than one account, and you select an activity statement or GST joint venture account that has an existing link to an agent, a nudge message will appear to advise that
  • you've selected to remove and replace an authorised agent for activity statement purposes
  • you need to press 'Yes' to continue or 'No' to go back to the Authorisation screen and update your responses
• at the Client details screen, select
  • You can update your client's postal address for income tax purposes to be the same as your practice postal address – selecting this option may also update the client's primary postal address (see Client addresses for details)
  • You can set communication preferences to use your practice default settings – if selected, select the declaration
  • You can select whether you or your client will be lodging the activity statement, select either Practice or Client – check the Email addresses we have listed for each account and update if necessary (if the email address listed against the activity statement account is your client's, then they will receive an email notification)
• select Next
• at the Summary screen check all details are correct, then select Submit.

The client has now been added to your client list.

The client will be added; however it can take up to 15 minutes for the client to display in the predictive name search and your client list. During this time, you can access the client's summary page by searching with a TFN or ABN.

You can also view our Add a client video.

Unable to add a client

Some clients cannot be added to your client list immediately using Online services for agents. This could be due to the new client-to-agent linking process, or the client's TFN may be security assessed or archived.

A TFN may be archived when a person has left Australia or an account has been inactive for some time.

Security-assessed clients are clients we classify for privacy reasons. To view these clients, you will need to phone us.

Remove client

Before removing a client from your client list, you should:

• remove all your details from the client’s record
• remove the client from your Favourite clients list (if necessary).

To remove a client, including a payroll only client from your client list:

• select My practice then Remove client or use the Remove client quick link
• at Find a client type the client identifier (TFN, ABN, WPN or EIN) or name
• select Find – the client details will populate on the screen
• before proceeding, use the links provided on the screen to update your clients information, including
  • Client details
  • Client addresses
  • Email addresses
  • Authorised contacts
  • Financial institution details
• select Yes or No to the question; ‘I have removed my practice details from the client’s record’
• select Submit to remove the client.

The client will be removed and although it may take approximately 15 minutes for your client list to be updated, you won't be able to access the client.

You can also watch our Remove a client video.

Note: Your client list displays all clients who have a link to your Registered agent number (RAN). This includes clients you may no longer represent or who have lodged final returns. If these clients appear on your list, you'll need to remove them. If you're unable to remove a client see our client list page Client list has clients you no longer represent for details on how to request a bulk deletion.

Lodgment program status

This function is only available to tax agents. BAS agents won't see this function.

The Lodgment program status will show you the status, progress and performance of your income tax and fringe benefits tax lodgments.

You can see how you are currently tracking for this year's lodgments as well as your performance history for the past 2 years.

To view the status:

• from the home page, select My practice
• select Lodgment program status or use the agent home page feature or quick link.

You can see the number of current year tax returns lodged on time and the total number of expected lodgments. This data is updated weekly.

Annual lodgment performance

This view shows your lodgment performance history and the amount of tax returns lodged on time for the previous 2 financial years.

At the Lodgment program status screen, if you also lodge Fringe benefits tax returns you will need to select Income tax or Fringe benefits tax.

Your lodgment performance data is updated weekly and displayed as both a bar graph and as a table. This data determines your overall performance percentage. To view additional information, select the drop-down menu next to 'How do we calculate your lodgment performance?'

If you have achieved 85% performance for income tax lodgments, you can print the Lodgment program certificate between 15 July and 31 October.

My details

You can view the details we have of your agent registration with the Tax Practitioners Board.

To view and check your details are up to date, select My practice then My details.

To update your practice details, visit the Tax Practitioners BoardExternal Link.

Updates made with the Tax Practitioners Board will take time to display in our systems.

Add payroll only client

Use this function if the only role you're providing for your client is Single Touch Payroll (STP) reporting.

Adding a payroll only client will provide you with authorisation to the pay as you go (PAYG) withholding role to lodge and view your client's STP reports. You won't have permissions to access any other functions in the system.

If you're authorised at the client or account level, you'll also have authority for the PAYG withholding role.

To add a client:

• select My practice then Add payroll only client
• at Find a client
  • select your client type – Individual or Non-individual
  • select an identifier – TFN, ABN, EIN or WPN (BAS agents won't have an EIN option)
  • type the identifier number
  • for individuals – type the client's date of birth
  • for non-individuals – if using a TFN, type their name or ABN
• select Next
• at Authorisation select the account you would like to authorise for payroll services only and select Next
• at Summary screen check the accounts selected are correct then select Submit
  • The payroll only client has now been added to your client list.
  • You can generate a print friendly version of the Summary screen
• select the STP reporting link. You'll only see information here after the first STP report has been lodged.

You can return to the top of this Online services for agents user guide for help on other areas.

Transfer client

Use this function to transfer existing client authorisations between registered agent numbers (RANs). This function is only accessible where multiple RANs are present under a practice ABN.

Your existing clients won't need to complete an agent nomination for this client transfer. While an agent nomination is not required from your client, you should first obtain consent from your client to transfer accounts.

Note: Transferring an account with another tax or BAS agent indicator will remove that other agent's access to that account.

To transfer client authorisations between RANs follow these steps.

• Select My practice then Transfer client.
• At RAN details
  • check that you have updated all client information
  • at From, check that the RAN details are correct
  • at To, all RANs associated with the current ABN in focus will be listed
  • select the RAN you want the client authorisations transferred to from the list or use the Filter agent functionality to locate the RAN
  • select Next.
• At Client details
  • search for the client you are transferring authorisations by client name, TFN or ABN
  • select the client you are transferring authorisations for
  • select Next.
• At Authorisations, select either
  • all current authorised accounts if you want to transfer all eligible accounts for the searched client the current RAN has authority for – where only one authorised account exists for the client, that account will be selected and displayed automatically for transfer.
    
    Note: Where the current RAN is authorised on accounts that are ineligible to be transferred to a BAS agent, a list of eligible accounts will be provided. You will only be able to select and transfer eligible authorised accounts.
  • Choose from a list of accounts if you want to select the accounts to be transferred for the searched client. You will only be able to select and transfer eligible authorised accounts. You can transfer up to 50 accounts for a client in one request. A separate request will need to be submitted to transfer additional accounts.
  • Select Next.
• At Summary
  • check that the RAN details, client details and client accounts you are transferring are correct
  • select the Declaration box to agree
  • select Submit.

If the transfer request is successful, you'll receive a confirmation that it's been successfully processed. It will take approximately 15 minutes for the transfer to be reflected when searching by the client's name.

You can view a print friendly version to print or save the confirmation as a PDF, which includes:

• RAN details
• client details
• authorisations transferred.

If the transfer request has failed, you'll receive an error notification. You can try to complete the transfer client request later. If the error persists, contact us.