Tax practitioners to receive SMS alerts from the ATO
Just before the Christmas/New Year break, the ATO instituted a system of sending SMS alerts to tax agents to tell them when the Tax Agent or BAS Agent Portal is unavailable for more than an hour (as long as the ATO has their mobile phone number recorded, and it is up to date). However, agents can opt out of receiving SMS alerts by emailing the ATO at TPALSSystemsSMSAlerts@ato.gov.au and including their practice name, registered agent name, registered agent number, mobile phone number, business phone number and email address. Otherwise, an SMS will be issued where “significant” unplanned portal outages or functionality issues are detected and prior to scheduled systems and portal maintenance, and a follow-up SMS alert will be issued when the outage is resolved or scheduled maintenance completed. An SMS will not be sent if the unplanned outage is expected to last less than one hour. They have various rules they will follow when sending SMS alerts, including that an SMS alert will not be sent between the hours of 11.00pm and 8.00am AEST. Note that an SMS alert will not be sent for:
- known problems listed on the Key updates section of the home page of the portal; and
- known System issues listed on System maintenance and issues.
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