A call "from the ATO" about your business tax debt: how to tell if it's real

The ATO does ring businesses about overdue tax, so a call like this can be genuine. But scammers copy it. Don’t pay or hand over details on a call you weren’t expecting. Check first: use Verify Call in the ATO app while the caller waits, or hang up and ring the ATO yourself on 1800 008 540. A real ATO officer will be fine with that.

Why this call is so easy to fall for

If your business is behind on BAS, a call about tax debt doesn’t come out of nowhere. You already know there’s a balance. That’s what makes it work for scammers. They don’t need to invent a debt. They only need to sound like the people you’ve been expecting to hear from.

And they’re busy. In its April 2026 announcement, the ATO said almost 7,500 ATO impersonation scams were reported in July 2025 alone. Tax time is the peak, but the BAS calendar gives scammers a reason to ring all year round. The October quarterly BAS lands on 28 October. Expect a lift in these calls around then.

So the aim isn’t to treat every ATO call as fake. It’s to check before you act, every time, without feeling rude about it.

Real ATO call or scam? The quick comparison

What happens on the call	A genuine ATO call	A likely scam
Who rang	Often expected: you’ve had letters, or your tax agent warned you	Out of the blue, often with a recorded message first
Tone	Calm. They explain why they’re calling	Urgent, angry or threatening
Threats	No arrest threats	“Police are on their way”, “warrant”, “you’ll be arrested today”
Payment	Through official ATO channels, linked to your own payment reference number	Gift cards, crypto, prepaid cards, or a “new” bank account
Your tax agent	Happy for you to involve them	Tries to stop you hanging up or talking to anyone
Checking	Fine with you verifying the call or calling back	Pushes back on you hanging up

Scamwatch’s red flags line up with that list: threats of immediate arrest, demands for immediate payment through unusual methods, and links to “log in” to a government account. Any one of those is enough to end the call.

The 30-second check: Verify Call in the ATO app

Since early April 2026, the ATO app has a Verify Call feature built for exactly this situation. The ATO’s media release explains how it works:

1. Someone rings saying they’re from the ATO.
2. Keep them on the line. Open the ATO app and log in.
3. Select the verify call option.
4. Within about 30 seconds, a notification should confirm it’s a genuine ATO call.
5. No notification? Treat it as a scam and hang up.

The catch: you need the app installed and your device registered before the call comes. Fumbling with a first-time login while someone pressures you is exactly what scammers count on. If you run a business and you’re carrying any tax debt at all, set it up this week.

If you can’t use the app, maybe because the call is about a company account your tax agent looks after, use the method that has always worked. Hang up and ring the ATO on a number you’ve looked up yourself.

What to say while you check

You don’t owe a caller an argument. You just need a polite way to buy a minute, or to end the call.

“Thanks for calling. Before we go any further, I’m going to verify this call in the ATO app. Can you hold for about 30 seconds?”

Illustrative example only.

A genuine officer will wait. If the caller gets angry, rushes you, or the line suddenly drops, you have your answer.

If you’d rather not verify while they’re on the line:

“I don’t discuss tax matters on calls I haven’t arranged. I’ll ring the ATO back myself on the number from their website, and I’ll have my tax agent with me. What’s your name, and is there a reference I should quote?”

Illustrative example only.

Then hang up. Don’t ring back on a number they give you. The ATO’s verify or report page points you to 1800 008 540 for checking whether a contact was really from them.

“But the caller ID said ATO”

It doesn’t matter. Scammers use spoofing tools that make a familiar number show on your screen, including numbers that really belong to government agencies. Caller ID tells you what the scammer wanted you to see.

Judge the call by what the caller asks you to do, not by the number on the screen.

Check the debt yourself, not through the caller

The best protection is knowing your own numbers. If you know what you owe before anyone rings, a scammer’s figure stands out at once.

• Log in to the ATO’s online services (for business, or through myGov if you’re a sole trader). Check the balance, what it’s made up of, and any due dates.
• Ask your tax agent or BAS agent. They can see your accounts and can usually tell you in minutes whether a “final notice” is real.
• Look at your letters. Real overdue amounts usually come with a paper or myGov inbox trail. A call about a debt you’ve never had a single notice for deserves extra suspicion.

If the debt is real and you can’t pay it in one go, that’s a different conversation, and a normal one. Businesses owing $200,000 or less may be able to set up an ATO payment plan online without talking to anyone. Our page on owing the ATO covers how to explain a tax debt when you call a lender.

Tax debt squeezing your cash? A 60-second enquiry tells us what you’re dealing with, and there’s no credit check when you first enquire. See what you might qualify for.

A worked example: the Thursday afternoon call

This is an illustrative scenario, not a real client.

Mia runs a small landscaping business on the Sunshine Coast. She’s about $38k behind on BAS after a wet winter. She’s been meaning to call the ATO about a payment plan. On a Thursday afternoon her mobile rings. A man says he’s from the ATO’s “enforcement division”. Her account has been “flagged for legal action”, he says, and unless $9,400 is paid by 5pm a warrant will be issued.

The amount is roughly the size of one quarter’s BAS, so it sounds plausible. But three things don’t fit:

1. The deadline. Five o’clock today, with arrest attached.
2. The payment method. He gives her BSB and account details for a “secure ATO trust account”.
3. The pressure. When she says she’d like to check with her bookkeeper, he says that will “void the arrangement”.

Mia says she’ll verify the call. She opens the ATO app, but no confirmation comes. She hangs up. Then she rings her bookkeeper, who logs in and confirms the real balance. There’s no legal action on file. Mia reports the call to the ATO on 1800 008 540. The next morning she sets up a payment plan herself.

The scam didn’t work because she checked. Her real problem, the $38k, is still there. But now she’s dealing with it on her terms.

If you’ve already paid or shared details

It happens to careful people. Scammers are good at this. Move quickly, in this order:

1. Ring your bank straight away. Ask them to stop or recall the payment and flag the account it went to.
2. Ring the ATO on 1800 008 540, especially if you gave out your TFN, ABN details, myGov login or ID documents. They can add protections to your account.
3. Change your passwords, including myGov and your accounting software, and turn on multi-factor sign-in.
4. Report it to Scamwatch using its report a scam form. It helps warn other businesses.
5. Tell your tax agent or bookkeeper so they can watch for odd activity on your ATO accounts.

If the money lost has left a hole in your cash flow, call your lender before the next repayment is under pressure. Our guide on calling your lender before you miss a repayment shows what to say.

Make it a team habit

If someone else answers your phones, a bookkeeper, office manager or partner, they’re as likely to take this call as you are. Agree on three rules:

• Nobody pays the ATO on a call they didn’t make. Ever.
• Nobody reads out a TFN, ABN details, a myGov login or a one-time code to an incoming caller.
• Every “ATO” call gets checked through the app or a call back to 1800 008 540, and is noted for the owner.

Put them on a card by the phone. It takes two minutes and could save you thousands.

Real ATO debt, real options: see if you qualify

Once you’ve ruled out the scam, the debt itself is still there. Owners usually feel one of two things: relief that the threat was fake, and dread about the balance that isn’t. We talk to business owners with ATO debt every day. It doesn’t put us off. What matters is the whole picture: how much is owed, whether lodgements are up to date, whether there’s a payment plan, and what security, if any, is available.

Here’s how it works with us. Enquiring takes about 60 seconds and there’s no credit check when you first enquire. We don’t send your details to a pile of lenders, so your phone won’t light up with strangers afterwards. Fitting, given everything above. A real person reads your enquiry, looks at your situation and calls you to talk it through. Please fill the form in accurately, including the ATO balance and any arrears, so we can match the right option the first time. Before you ask any lender a question that matters, our list of questions to ask a lender on the phone is worth a look, and so is our guide on what to ask your accountant first.

Prefer to ring us? Use the number on this website, 03 4059 1829, Monday to Friday, 9am to 5pm Melbourne time. Same rule as with the ATO: a number you’ve looked up yourself.

See if you qualify →