The government has warned that as tax time draws closer, the chance of being targeted by tax scammers increases. In 2021-22 the ATO received over 20,000 scam reports from taxpayers and has already received 19,83 reports in 2022-23.

Impersonation scams are mostly commonly seen at tax time. Scammers will impersonate the ATO contacting individuals via a link to a fake myGov login page.

Ahead of tax time, the government is warning the community about the common tricks tax scammers use which include:

• Posing as the ATO on social media and offering to help with tax and super questions
• Luring unsuspecting people with an offer of a “refund”
• Trying to keep individuals in a conversation for as long as possible to collect as much personal information as they can
• Using all types of methods to contact taxpayers including phone calls, a private message on social media, an email or text

There is also a dedicated ATO team that monitors for scams and assists people who have fallen victim to scammers.

The government says the top ways taxpayers can protect themselves against scammers this tax time is to:

• Remember that the ATO will never send a link to login to their online services or ask taxpayers to send personal information via social media, email or SMS
• Report any suspicious contact claiming to be from the ATO to ReportScams@ato.gov.au
• Delete the suspicious correspondence from their account or block the account on social media
• Not respond if any contact seems suspicious. Instead, call 1800 008 540 to check if it was the ATO speaking to a taxpayer