To check whether your accountant has lodged your tax return, the quickest way is to log in to ATO online services through your myGov account and look at Manage tax returns, which shows the status of your return for each year, including whether it has been lodged and where it is up to in processing. You can see this yourself even though your accountant did the lodging, because it is your own ATO record. The other reliable signs are receiving your notice of assessment, seeing the return as processed in your income tax account, and getting any refund paid to your bank. And of course you can simply ask your accountant for confirmation, which a good one will provide without fuss. In Australia the term is “lodging” rather than “filing”, but it means the same thing: submitting your return to the ATO.
The fastest check: ATO online services through myGov
Your myGov account linked to the ATO is the single best place to confirm your return has been lodged, because it shows the ATO’s own record of your return regardless of who submitted it. Once you are logged in, the steps are:
- Sign in to myGov.
- Select Australian Taxation Office from your linked services.
- On the ATO home page, select Manage tax returns.
- Select the income year you want to check.
The screen then shows the status of that year’s return. If your accountant has lodged it, you will see the return recorded there with its progress; if nothing has been lodged, there will be no lodged return showing for that year. This is the definitive check, because it is drawn straight from the ATO’s systems rather than relying on anyone telling you.
What the status is telling you
When you open the return in Manage tax returns, the status shows how far along it is, from lodged and being processed through to finalised with a notice of assessment issued. Most returns lodged online are processed within about 12 business days, so once your accountant lodges, there is usually a short wait before the status moves to finalised and any refund is paid. If the status shows the return as lodged or in progress, that confirms your accountant has done their part and the ATO now has it.
If you check and there is simply no return showing for the year at all, that tells you it has not yet been lodged, which is the thing you were worried about. That is worth a prompt conversation with your accountant to find out why, whether they are waiting on information from you, waiting on your approval, or it has slipped. Our guide on how long a tax return takes through an accountant explains the normal timeline so you know whether a delay is ordinary or not.
Using the ATO app
If you would rather use your phone, the ATO app shows the same information. Open the app and look for your tax return for the current year, and the status appears on screen. The app draws on the same ATO records as the website, so it is just as reliable for confirming a lodgement, and it is convenient if you do your admin on a mobile. Like the website, it works whether you lodged yourself or your accountant lodged for you.
Checking by phone
You can also confirm by phone. The ATO has a self-service line you can call at any time to check the progress of your return; have your tax file number ready, as you will need it to get through the identity steps. This suits people who are not set up with myGov or who would rather hear it confirmed. The phone service tells you the same thing the online status shows: whether a return has been lodged and where it is up to.
Your notice of assessment is proof it went through
A notice of assessment is the ATO’s statement that it has processed your return, so receiving one is clear confirmation that the return was not only lodged but assessed. If your accountant lodged the return, the notice of assessment is usually issued a week or two later, and it appears in your ATO online services communication history as well as being sent to you or your accountant. If you have a notice of assessment for the year, there is no doubt the return was lodged. If you are still waiting on one some weeks after your accountant said they lodged, that is a reason to check the status or ask them to.
A related sign is your income tax account, which records the assessment and any resulting balance or refund. Seeing the year’s return reflected there, with tax assessed and a balance or refund showing, is another confirmation the return has gone through. We explain that account in our guide on what an income tax account is.
A refund in your bank is a good sign, but not the first thing to rely on
If you were due a refund and it lands in your bank account, that obviously means the return was lodged and processed. But a refund is a lagging indicator: it only appears after processing is complete, so it is confirmation after the fact rather than something to wait on if you are checking soon after lodgement. It also does not help if you had a bill rather than a refund, since there is nothing to arrive. So a refund is reassuring when it comes, but the online status and the notice of assessment are the checks to use first, because they tell you sooner and in every case. Our guide on how long a tax refund takes sets out the usual timing.
Just ask your accountant, and what to expect
The simplest step of all is to ask your accountant directly, and a reputable one will confirm promptly and give you evidence. Before a tax agent lodges your return, they are required to get your approval, so you should have seen and signed off on the return first; a return lodged without your sign-off is not how it is meant to work. After lodging, a good accountant provides a copy of the lodged return and the lodgement confirmation, and many send the notice of assessment through once it issues. So checking is often just a matter of looking back through your emails for the signed return and the confirmation your accountant sent.
If you ask and the answer is vague, or you were never asked to approve the return, that is worth pursuing. It does not necessarily mean anything is wrong, but you are entitled to clear confirmation that your return has been lodged and a copy for your records. A trustworthy accountant treats that as a normal, reasonable request.
What to do if it has not been lodged
If your checks show the return has not been lodged and you expected it to be, start with a calm conversation with your accountant to find out where it stands. Often there is a simple explanation: they are waiting on a document from you, they need your approval, or your return is sitting within the tax agent lodgement program, which gives agents later due dates than self-lodgers, so a return lodged later than October is not necessarily late. Our guide on tax return deadlines when you use a tax agent explains those extended dates.
If you cannot get a straight answer, or you are not confident the return will be handled, you can confirm the position independently through myGov, and you are always free to raise concerns or move to an accountant who communicates clearly. Knowing how to check the status yourself means you are never wholly reliant on being told.
Keep your own record each year
Once you have confirmed a return was lodged, it is worth saving the evidence so you are not checking from scratch every year. Keep the signed copy of the return, the lodgement confirmation, and the notice of assessment together for each income year, whether in a folder on your computer or wherever you store tax paperwork. This gives you an instant answer if a question ever comes up later, and it doubles as part of the records the ATO expects you to keep anyway. Our guide on how long to keep tax records covers how long to hold them. Building this small habit means that next year, confirming your accountant has lodged is a ten-second look rather than a worry.
