How To Access Your MyGov Account

It’s 2019 and rather than wasting hours of your day lining up at a government office to do some life admin, you can sort everything out online. But while I’ve been linked up to a MyGov account for a few years now (responsible adult brag), it seems not everyone’s cottoned on to the idea.

Fair enough, some have concerns about security after previous blunders but with your payslip summaries now automatically being added to your MyGov account, it’s time to figure out how to access it once and for all.

[referenced url=”https://www.lifehacker.com.au/2019/08/five-tax-deductions-you-probably-forgot-to-claim/” thumb=”https://www.lifehacker.com.au/wp-content/uploads/sites/4/2019/07/Tax-Time-tips-410×231.jpg” title=”Five Tax Deductions You Probably Forgot To Claim” excerpt=”Another tax year has come and gone, and most of us have already filed out returns. (You slow coaches out there have until 31 October.) Ideally, all that admin effort should have been rewarded with a nice little sum. But only if you remembered to claim the expenses you’re entitled to.”]

What is MyGov?

To keep things simple, MyGov is your online portal to some government-related things that affect you. You can link your ATO, Medicare and NDIS accounts, for example, meaning most of those annoying admin changes can be completed without attempting to visit the brick-and-mortar offices during their inconvenient opening times.

The full list of online services includes:

• Australian JobSearch
• Australian Taxation Office
• CentrelinkChild Support
• Department of Veterans’ Affairs
• HousingVic Online Services
• Medicare
• My Aged Care
• My Health Record
• National Disability Insurance Scheme
• National Redress Scheme
• State Revenue Office Victoria

But the tool it’s most used for is ATO. You can complete your taxes once you link the portal to your account and it’ll give you an overview of any debts you’ve incurred, such as HELP loans or taxes owing.

How do I create a MyGov account?

You’ll want to first go to MyGov’s main page in order to sign up. Go through the usual steps of adding in your details and finish creating your account.

Once you’ve done all that, you’ll have an account (yay) but linking the relevant accounts still needs to be done. To do that, under the Your services tab, opt to link an account. Let’s just say you want to link your ATO account, seeing as it’s pretty handy, select that option with your Tax File Number on hand. You’ll also need to have either a notice of assessment or details of your superannuation account from the last five years, a PAYG summary from the past two years or your bank account details to prove it’s really you.

If the information matches, you’re in and can now view your most important ATO details. The most insightful, for me anyway, was the sheer size of my HELP loan. Peep yours, if you haven’t paid it off yet, and weep.

Go forth, you’re now ready for responsible adulting.

This article has been updated since its original publication.

[referenced url=”https://www.lifehacker.com.au/2017/04/centrelinks-robodebt-system-has-issued-up-to-3m-in-bogus-debts/” thumb=”https://www.gizmodo.com.au/wp-content/uploads/sites/2/2016/02/centrelink.jpg” title=”Centrelink’s ‘Robodebt’ System Has Issued Up To $3m In Bogus Debts (And Counting)” excerpt=”In July last year Centrelink rolled out a new automated income matching system for detecting and recovering debts. It became known as “Robodebt” and was designed to help the Department of Human Services collect $4.5 million in debt every day. In that sense, it was super efficient. Too efficient, even. The Commonwealth Ombudsman has just released a detailed report into the failings of the OCI – calling the system “poorly planned, deficient and unclear”, confirming up to 20 per cent (possibly $3,075,503 worth) of demands to repay debt were incorrectly issued.”]