ATO Objection Form: Prepare and Lodge a Client Claim

Use the ATO objection form for tax professionals to challenge a client’s assessment or another objectable decision. Identify the decision, calculate its deadline and set out detailed grounds with evidence before lodging through Online services for agents.

Check That an Objection is the Right Route

An objection asks the ATO to reconsider an assessment or decision under the tax law’s objection provisions. Start with the notice itself. Record the taxpayer, tax type, period, decision reference and the change your client wants.

A final assessment following an ATO audit can provide the decision you challenge. A request for records or a preliminary position paper does not automatically give a separate objection right. Keep those communications as evidence and identify the assessment or reviewable decision that follows.

Choose the route that matches the problem:

• Use an amendment request to correct a mistake in a lodged return where the amendment rules allow it. The late tax returns guide covers the earlier return and amendment work.
• Use an objection where the client disputes an objectable assessment or decision, with grounds explaining why it is wrong.
• Make a service complaint about the ATO’s conduct or handling of a matter. A complaint does not replace an objection or preserve its deadline.
• Arrange payment separately where the client needs time to pay. Financial difficulty alone does not explain why an assessment is incorrect.

A private ruling can also have objection rights. If an assessment already covers the same period, the ATO directs you to object to the assessment instead. Identify the correct decision before drafting the grounds.

Check Time Limits and Late Applications

The ATO objection timeframe depends on the decision type and when the notice was given to the client or representative. Record the service evidence and calculate the deadline for each decision separately.

Common Objection Time Limits

Decision	Ordinary objection period	What to check
Original income tax assessment	Two years for most individuals, small businesses and medium businesses. Four years for other taxpayers.	Confirm which statutory assessment category applies, including exceptions and the income-year conditions for medium businesses.
Amended income tax assessment	The later of 60 days after the amended assessment is given or the original assessment’s objection deadline.	Keep both notices. An amendment does not restart a fresh two-year or four-year period.
GST assessment	Four years and one day after the assessment is given.	Distinguish the assessment from another reviewable GST decision.
Amended GST assessment	The later of 60 days after the amended assessment is given or four years after the original assessment is given.	Calculate the amended-assessment rule separately.
Reviewable GST decision	60 days after the decision is given.	Identify the provision making the decision reviewable.
Superannuation guarantee charge assessment	60 days after the assessment is given.	Confirm the employer is objecting to its assessment.

Use the ATO’s decision-specific time-limit guidance for the exact category. Some superannuation regulatory decisions have 21-day periods. Treating every objection as a 60-day matter can miss those shorter limits.

An objection to an amended assessment is generally confined to its alterations or additions, and matters relating to them. Identify which changes each ground challenges. An unrelated issue in the original assessment needs its own valid objection route.

An Out-of-Time Objection

Lodge the substantive objection together with a written request to treat it as lodged within time. Under sections 14ZW and 14ZX, permission to lodge late and the merits of the objection are separate decisions.

Explain the whole delay in a chronology. Show when the client received the decision, what prevented timely action and what happened once that obstacle ended. Support the explanation with relevant correspondence or other records. Explain the steps already taken to dispute the decision, the arguable grounds and whether the delay affects available evidence.

The ATO’s late-objection practice statement sets out the factors it weighs. A change of adviser alone does not ordinarily justify an extension. If the ATO refuses the extension, read the refusal’s review rights immediately. Acceptance of the extension allows consideration of the objection. It does not establish the claimed tax result.

Complete the Form With Grounds and Evidence

Prepare the client’s authority and the decision file before entering the objection. The ATO objection form instructions provide the online route and the downloadable NAT 13044 PDF.

Use the current form’s prompts. The PDF groups the information into authorisation, client details, contact details, objection details and the declaration. Its questions change with your answers, so complete it on a computer before printing.

1. Obtain written authority for this objection. Confirm that the person authorising you can act for the taxpayer. For a new client whose appointment has not been notified, the PDF instructs you to attach the authorisation letter.
2. Identify the taxpayer. Enter the entity type, full legal name and TFN or ABN in the authorised form. Match the taxpayer to the assessment. Keep identifiers out of ordinary email and working examples.
3. Set the representative contact details. Include your tax agent number where applicable, the person handling the objection and the address for its decision and correspondence.
4. Identify every disputed decision. Enter its tax type, decision kind, reference, relevant period and notice details. Include penalty or interest decisions only where a separate objection right exists.
5. State each ground fully and in detail. Explain the legal error, relevant facts and the change sought. Quantify disputed amounts and reconcile the proposed result to the assessment.
6. Attach an indexed evidence file. Match each document and calculation to a ground. Explain what it proves, and identify relevant material already supplied to the ATO by its earlier reference.
7. Complete the declaration. Obtain the client’s declaration that their information is true and correct and that they authorise lodgment. Retain it with your file and complete the representative declaration required by your lodgment method.

A Ground Supported by Records

A bare assertion says the assessment is unfair. A complete ground identifies the error and shows the corrected result.

For example, assume a fictional sole trader disputes the disallowance of $6,000 of business insurance. The proposed ground explains why the expense is deductible in that income year. The policy, invoice and payment record support the amount and business purpose. A reconciliation shows that allowing the disputed deduction reduces assessed taxable income from $90,000 to $84,000.

Those figures illustrate the argument. The client’s evidence must establish its actual facts.

Separate the tax calculation from any penalty ground. Showing that a deduction is allowable does not, by itself, state every argument relevant to a penalty decision.

An Objection Letter Structure

If you use a letter, organise it in this order:

1. Identify the taxpayer and authorised representative through the permitted channel.
2. Identify the decision, reference, tax type and period. State that the client objects to that decision.
3. State the outcome sought, including the amounts to change and the proposed corrected assessment.
4. Number the grounds. Under each, set out the applicable provision, material facts, reasoning and evidence references.
5. Include any late-objection request and its supporting chronology.
6. List the attachments and identify earlier material already held by the ATO.
7. Insert the required representative declaration, then sign and date the letter.

The ATO’s objection-letter instructions give the required declaration wording for someone acting for another taxpayer. Use that wording in the actual letter. Retain the separate signed client declaration so you can produce it if requested.

Lodge Through the Authorised Agent Route

Online services for agents has a dedicated objection form. The ATO’s documented route starts at the practice level, rather than a general Practice mail message.

1. Sign in to Online services for agents with the access needed to act for the client.
2. From the Practice level menu, select Reports and forms.
3. Select Lodge an objection and enter the required information. Add the grounds and supporting material requested by the form.
4. Review the taxpayer, decisions, periods and attachments. Select the Declaration tick box, then Submit. Online lodgment uses your approved electronic signature.
5. Save the receipt ID with the submitted objection and attachment list. Check that the receipt relates to this client’s objection.

A saved draft is still unsubmitted. If the screen shows only a draft or no receipt after you attempt submission, check its status before treating the deadline as met. Resolve an uncertain submission with the ATO and preserve the attempted-lodgment evidence.

If online lodgment is unavailable, the current instructions allow the PDF form or an objection letter. Download the PDF to a desktop computer or laptop with the latest Adobe Acrobat installed. Enable its JavaScript if prompted, complete the fields and use Save form for submission.

Print the form, complete the signed declaration and send it by fax or post using its applicable instructions. Keep the final copy and dispatch evidence, then confirm receipt.

For later evidence, return to Reports and forms. Select Submit further information for lodged private ruling/objection, identify the lodged matter and attach the additional documents. Complete the declaration and submit. Save that receipt with the original objection record so later evidence remains traceable to the original claim.

Manage the Objection While It is Open

The ATO provides a receipt ID for online lodgment. Its objection-handling guidance says it acknowledges receipt and provides a reference and contact number. It contacts you when a case officer is appointed. Allocation can be delayed by demand, so acknowledgement does not establish when the decision will arrive.

Record the case officer, agreed next contact and every information request. The officer can discuss the likely resolution time and agree a due date for further information. If the client cannot supply it, contact the officer before that deadline and explain what is missing. Set Practice mail notifications so requests reach the staff member handling the objection.

Follow up using the objection reference and the last agreed action. Ask whether the matter awaits allocation, evidence or a decision. Keep the client informed of that actual status instead of promising a fixed processing time.

Disputing tax does not automatically defer its payment date. Unpaid tax can continue to attract interest. Discuss payment or recovery arrangements separately with the ATO and record any express agreement, its conditions and its duration. Keep that agreement beside the objection file so staff do not infer that lodgment alone suspends collection.

Read the Decision and Preserve the Next Step

Read the reasons against each ground and the relief requested. Record which grounds the ATO allows, partly allows or rejects. Compare any amended assessment with the decision’s calculations, then reconcile the account for payments, credits and any refund.

If the client still disputes the result, identify the available external route immediately. The Administrative Review Tribunal (ART) reviews reviewable objection decisions. For an appealable objection decision, the client can instead appeal to the Federal Court. The Taxation Administration Act 1953 sets a 60-day period after service for these Part IVC objection-decision applications and appeals. Confirm the applicable provision and service date.

Other decisions, including extension refusals, need their own deadline analysis.

The ART charges application fees, with lower fees for eligible small-business taxation matters and certain other tax cases. Use its fee schedule to identify the category and any reduction. The Federal Court’s taxation practice guidance identifies the filing requirements and links to court fees. Obtain specialist advice on the route, prospects and potential legal costs before filing.

Prepare the specialist’s file with the decision and service evidence, original objection, declarations, receipts, correspondence and indexed supporting records. Add the ground-by-ground outcome and corrected calculation. Diary the filing deadline and obtain the client’s instructions in time to act. Further discussions with the ATO must not consume the period available to preserve the client’s review rights.