We’ve received calls from some Clients about calls from the ATO. You can rest assured that all your tax affairs are handled by Tax Store as your agent. On no account do you need to respond to these calls other than direct them to Tax Store.

The ATO is currently warning the public to be aware of a phone scam that is again circulating where fraudsters are intimidating people into paying a fake tax debt over the phone.

The aggressive scam attempts to force people to hand over money on the phone by threatening arrest if they don’t comply.

The ATO makes thousands of outbound calls to taxpayers a week, but would never contact taxpayers about a debt in this threatening manner and urges people to protect their personal details.

Generally the ATO would send an SMS or letter to remind you that a payment was due. The ATO has advised that if people receive a call from someone representing the ATO and are concerned about providing their personal information over the phone, they should ask for the caller’s name and phone them back through the ATO’s switchboard on 13 28 69. If people think they may have fallen victim to a phone scam, contact the ATO on 13 28 61 (8.00am–6.00pm, Monday to Friday).

Further information about various types of phone and email scams and how to report them is available at the ATO website.