InBrief

The intent of the P2P service is to support legal practitioners to represent their clients in their dealings with the ATO. It assists practitioners to understand the ATO view and legislative requirements. Legal practitioners can use P2P to answer technical questions in relation to tax law or to resolve administrative matters (eg transactional matters relating to a particular client or administrative matters associated with a particular audit process).

P2P fills the gap between the ATO’s frontline service offerings (ato.gov.au, the legal database, general telephony and complaints management) and secondary services such as rulings and dispute resolution. Where a simple discussion between ‘professionals’ on both sides can resolve the issue this avoids escalation to the more costly and slower services.

Practitioners can submit enquiries via an online form or by emailing P2Penquiries@ato.gov.au. The P2P officers assess the enquiry and identify the relevant subject matter expert in the ATO. This person will call the practitioner back to discuss the matter (written confirmation of advice is available on request). Responses to queries are general guidance only and are not legally binding. Responses are generally provided within five business days.

The ATO takes the security of their clients’ confidential information seriously. To discuss a specific client a legal practitioner needs to have been nominated as the client’s legal representative. To arrange this, the client can phone or visit the ATO or mail a nomination form, or their legal representative can provide written (faxed if urgent) advice of their appointment. When a representative contacts the ATO they will need to provide certain client details to pass proof of identity checks. More information about these requirements is available on the ATO website.