Olivia is the Head of Legal at Lawpath, where she helps Australian businesses navigate complex legal challenges with practical, commercially minded advice. She specialises in employment matters, contract drafting, pre-litigation strategy, dispute resolution, commercial law and startup compliance, and has supported clients across technology, healthcare, professional services and retail. Olivia is passionate about making legal services accessible, personable and effective for every client.
To set up a tax agent with your ABN, you nominate them through the ATO’s agent nomination process in Online services for business, using your myID. Your agent can’t touch your tax affairs until that nomination is done and they’ve accepted it. For most businesses the whole thing takes about 20 minutes.
Here’s the part nobody warns you about. You hire an accountant, you’re ready to hand over the tax headache, and then they tell you nothing can happen until you log in to the ATO and nominate them first. It feels backwards. It’s a security step, and it catches a lot of new business owners flat-footed right when they want to get moving.
- You nominate the agent, not the other way around. Your tax agent can’t link to your ABN themselves. You submit the nomination in Online services for business, using your myID.
- Sole traders are exempt. The agent nomination process applies to companies, trusts, and partnerships with an ABN. If you’re a sole trader, your agent links to you a different way.
- You get 28 days. Once you nominate your agent, they have 28 days to accept before the nomination lapses and you have to do it again.
- The ATO won’t tell your agent. After you submit, you have to message them yourself. The 28-day clock starts at submission, not when they notice.
- You need myID and a RAM link first. Set up your myID and link your ABN in Relationship Authorisation Manager before you can nominate anyone.
Do you actually need to nominate a tax agent?
If your business is a company, trust, or partnership with an ABN, then yes. The ATO’s agent nomination process is mandatory before a registered tax agent can act for you. Sole traders are the exception. Your agent can link to a sole trader through the older client-linking method, so you skip the nomination step entirely.
This trips up people who ran as a sole trader for years and then set up a company. You assume appointing an accountant works the way it always has. It doesn’t anymore. The moment you have a company ABN, the nomination step is on you, and your new accountant is stuck waiting until you do it.
The ATO brought this in to stop fraud. Before the process existed, agents could link themselves to a business with very little checking, and scammers took advantage. Making you nominate your own agent through your own myID closes that gap. Annoying for a day, worth it over the life of the business.
Who does the nominating depends on your structure. In a company it’s usually a director. In a partnership it’s a partner, and for a trust it’s the trustee or a director of the corporate trustee. Whoever it is has to be the principal authority linked to the ABN in RAM. Sort out who that person is before anyone starts clicking, because the wrong one locks the rest of the team out until it’s fixed.
What you need before you set up a tax agent
Most of the delay in setting up a tax agent isn’t the nomination itself. It’s hunting for the four things below once you’ve already started. Get them lined up first and the actual submission takes five minutes.
| What you need | Why it matters | Where to get it |
|---|---|---|
| A myID (Standard strength or higher) | It’s how you log in to ATO business services | Download the myID app and verify your identity |
| Your ABN linked to you in RAM | Proves to the ATO you can act for the business | Relationship Authorisation Manager, online or by phone |
| Your agent’s Registered Agent Number (RAN) | You search for your agent by this number, not their name | Ask your tax agent for it |
| Your business TFN | Your agent needs it to start acting for you | Your company’s ATO notice or registration records |
One tip on the Registered Agent Number. Get it in writing from your agent before you log in. Searching by business name throws up firms with similar names, and nominating the wrong one is a real risk the ATO’s own process is designed to flag. The RAN removes the guesswork. If you want to double-check your agent is the real thing, their number is listed on the Tax Practitioners Board register.
How to set up a tax agent with your ABN, step by step
Here’s the full agent nomination process, in the order the ATO runs it. If you already log in to Online services for business, skip to step four.
- Set up your myID. Download the myID app and verify your identity to Standard strength or higher. A Strong myID lets you link your ABN online in the next step. With Standard, you may need to phone the ATO to link it.
- Link your ABN in RAM. The principal authority, usually a director listed on the ABN, logs in to Relationship Authorisation Manager and links the business to their myID. This has to happen before anyone else can be authorised.
- Log in to Online services for business. Head to the ATO’s Online services for business and sign in with your myID.
- Go to the agent nominations screen. Open Profile, then Agent details, then Agent nominations, then Add.
- Search for your agent and submit. Enter their Registered Agent Number, check the name that comes up is right, complete the declaration, and submit the nomination.
- Tell your agent. Message them to say the nomination is in. The ATO won’t do it for you, and they have 28 days to accept before it lapses.
When Lawpath is your tax agent, the full walkthrough with our agent number is in our help guide on appointing Lawpath as your tax agent. It’s the same six steps with the exact details filled in.
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What if you can’t get into the ATO portal?
This is where setup stalls most often, and it’s almost always the RAM link rather than the nomination. If you can’t link your ABN online, call the ATO on 1300 287 539 and link by phone instead. Have your ABN and identity documents ready when you call.
Three groups hit this wall the most: brand-new companies whose details haven’t fully flowed through ATO systems yet, directors based overseas, and people who’ve recently moved to Australia and don’t have enough local ID to reach Strong myID. If that’s you, the phone line is the fix, not a dead end.
Book the call for a quiet part of your day. The line runs standard business hours, and the identity check takes a few minutes. Once your ABN is linked in RAM, the rest of the nomination is the same quick process as everyone else.
Where setting up a tax agent usually goes wrong
The nomination form is simple. The pitfalls sit around it. These are the four that cost businesses the most time.
Assuming the ATO notifies your agent
You submit the nomination, feel done, and move on. Weeks later your agent still hasn’t acted, because they never knew. The 28-day clock has been ticking the whole time. Send them a quick message the moment you hit submit. One line is enough.
Letting the 28 days run out
If your agent doesn’t accept inside 28 days, the nomination expires and you start over. It happens when the nomination lands during a busy lodgment period or your agent is mid-onboarding. If the deadline is close, use the Extend option in the portal to add another 28 days rather than redoing the whole thing.
Nominating the wrong agent
Search by business name and you’ll see several firms that look alike. Pick the wrong one and you’ve handed a stranger a nomination. Always nominate by Registered Agent Number, and check the name on screen matches your agent before you confirm.
Forgetting you have to do it again when you switch
Changing accountants isn’t a handover between the two firms. Your old agent drops off and you nominate the new one from scratch through the same process. Plan for the short gap so nothing’s due while no agent is linked.
Setting up a tax agent as part of a new business
Still getting the business off the ground? The tax agent step slots in after you have a company and an ABN. The order that saves the most back-and-forth is register the company, get the ABN, set up myID and RAM, then nominate your agent. Do them out of order and you end up waiting on one thing to finish another.
This is where doing it all in one place earns its keep. With Lawpath you can register your company, sort your ABN, and then bring on Lawpath’s tax and accounting team as your registered agent without stitching together three separate providers. One login, one set of records, one team that already has your details.
Established companies get the same benefit when it’s time to tidy up the books. If your BAS and returns have drifted, company accounting support picks up where the nomination leaves off, and our guide to keeping your BAS accurate covers what to stay on top of after your agent is linked.
Frequently asked questions
Do sole traders need to nominate a tax agent?
No. The agent nomination process applies to entities with an ABN other than sole traders, which means companies, trusts, and partnerships. If you’re a sole trader, your tax agent links to you through the older client-linking method and you skip the nomination step.
How long does a tax agent nomination last?
28 days from when you submit it. If your agent doesn’t accept the nomination within that window, it lapses and you nominate them again. You can use the Extend feature in the portal to add another 28 days if the deadline is getting close.
Does the ATO tell my agent I’ve nominated them?
No, and this catches people out. You have to tell your agent yourself after you submit. The 28-day acceptance clock starts at the moment you nominate, not when your agent finds out, so message them straight away.
Can my tax agent nominate themselves for me?
No. You, or someone with authority for the ABN, must submit the nomination through your own myID. Agents can’t link themselves to your business. That restriction is the whole point of the process, since it stops anyone appointing themselves without your say-so.
Do I need a Strong myID to set up a tax agent?
Not always. A Standard myID lets you nominate an agent in Online services for business. A Strong myID lets you link your ABN in RAM online instead of phoning the ATO, so it’s worth getting if you can verify enough identity documents.
Is there a deadline to set up a tax agent?
There’s no single legal cut-off, but your agent can’t lodge or act for you until the nomination is accepted. Set it up well before your first BAS or tax return falls due, so your agent has time to accept inside the 28-day window and get to work.
I’m changing accountants. Do I nominate again?
Yes. Switching agents means a fresh nomination for the new firm through the same agent nomination process. Your previous agent drops off their end, and you link the new one from scratch. Expect a short gap and plan around any due dates.
What if I can’t link my ABN in RAM?
Call the ATO on 1300 287 539 and link your ABN by phone. This is common for new companies, directors based overseas, and recent arrivals who can’t reach Strong myID yet. Have your ABN and identity documents on hand when you call.
You’ve got this
If the ATO portal feels like one more hurdle between you and running your business, you’re not behind and you’re not doing it wrong. Thousands of new companies work through this exact process every month, and once your myID is set up the nomination itself is a five-minute job you’ll never think about again. Once your agent accepts, they can see your lodgments and start work, and you’re free to get back to the business.
Want the tax side handled properly from day one? Set up Lawpath as your tax agent and let our accountants take it from here.
