How to set up a myGov account

Setting up a myGov account allows you to access your payment summaries, find out about your superannuation accounts and a range of other things. We take a look at how to set one up.

What is a myGov account?

myGov is the Federal Government’s online services portal. It allows users to log into the one website to access their ATO online account, as well as a range of other government services, such as Centrelink, Medicare and My Health Record. Government programs that offer online services through myGov, at the time of writing, include:

• Australian JobSearch
• Australian Taxation Office
• Centrelink
• Child Support
• Department of Health Applications Portal
• Department of Veterans’ Affairs
• HousingVic Online Services
• Individual Healthcare Identifiers Service
• Medicare
• My Aged Care
• My Health Record
• National Cancer Screening Register
• National Disability Insurance Scheme
• National Redress Scheme
• State Revenue Office Victoria

Once you’ve created an account and logged in, you can choose which service or services you want to link to your account. myGov will also act as an electronic mailbox for all your correspondence with those linked services, and you can set it up to send you a text message or email every time those emails arrive.

How do I create a myGov account?

To register, go to my.gov.au, ensuring that you land on the page with the https://, which means it’s the genuine, secure site. If it’s your first time using myGov, you’ll be required to answer a series of questions to prove your identity and link it to your files held by the government. For example, you may be asked to provide your driver’s licence and passport numbers and any customer reference numbers used by government services, as well as some family details, income history and health service information. Once you are registered, you will be asked to set up a verification system for when you log on. This could include sending a code to a mobile number, or answering secret questions.

How do I access my income or group statement, and what will it tell me?

One of the benefits of a myGov account is that you can link it to the Australian Taxation Office (ATO) portal. By doing so, you will be able to access a number of their services, such as your income statements.  When you’ve created a myGov account and linked the ATO service to it, your income statement will appear under ‘Employment’ and ‘Income statements’ from the top menu in your ATO account. The ATO says that your income statement – when finalised by your employer – should show your year-to-date salary and wages, the tax that has been withheld and the reported amounts of your employer super. You’ll see some of these details by opening the detailed view of each statement.

How can you use your income statement for your tax return?

The ATO says that to use an income statement as part of the process of preparing information for a tax return, you must wait until it is marked as being ‘Tax ready’. The ATO also states that your single touch payroll (STP) income statement information will be pre-filled even if your employer hasn’t finalised it yet.

The ATO goes on to say that when it comes to filing your tax return, if your income statement information isn’t finalised yet, you will see a red box with the word ‘Required’ next to your employer’s name. It recommends you review pre-filled information and confirm whether you wish to use it before you submit your tax return, and says to contact the organisation who provided the information if it’s incorrect, and ask for them to send corrections to the ATO.

Finally, it may be worth bearing in mind the ATO’s warning that if you decide to use the information in an unfinalised income statement to lodge your tax return, your employer may finalise the statement with different amounts, which could mean you end up needing to amend your tax return and pay extra tax.

Visit our Tax Hub

How do I check my super with myGov?

To check your super via myGov, you first need to connect your myGov account to the ATO. Once this is done, you should see a section called ‘Super’ in your ATO account. From the top menu, choose ‘Super’, then ‘Information’ and select ‘Total superannuation balance’ to see your reported super balance. There should also be a list of super accounts, visible under ‘Fund details’, and a link to enable you to transfer your super, if you’d like to. To see your transaction history, including what payments have been paid into a super fund account by you and your employer, click on a super fund name, as it appears in your super accounts list.

Compare Super Funds

What else can I do with a myGov account?

The list of things you can use myGov for will only expand as you link more services to it. Here are some of the other things you could use your myGov account for:

Where can I get help with setting up my myGov account?

There are a few different places you can go to get help with setting up your myGov account (or troubleshooting when using it):

• Online: there is extensive information online that could help you (available in a range of languages), as well as an online chat service on the myGov landing page
• By phone: The myGov helpdesk’s phone number is 13 23 07, and is open Monday to Friday from 7am to 10pm and Saturday and Sunday from 10am to 5pm (in your local time zone).

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