Complaints, compliments and feedback

Last updated

14 October 2024

We welcome your complaints, compliments and feedback about the services we provide and how we deliver them.

Australian Business Registry Services (ABRS) is aligned to the Australian Taxation Office (ATO) Charter.

Our complaints and compliments forms are located on the ATO website. While these forms are shared, there is a clear separation between registry functions and the ATO's other functions.
For more information about our commitments to you, what we ask of you and options if you're not satisfied, visit Our Charter on the ATO website.

Complaints

You can make a complaint if you’re unhappy with an ABRS product, action, process or service. We’ll provide you with an individual resolution or response.

Lodging your complaint

Before you lodge a complaint, we encourage you to phone us so we can try to resolve the issue with you.

If you’re not satisfied the issue has been resolved, you can complete the online complaints form.

Your complaint must be related to services provided by ABRS. We can't resolve matters that relate to tax, super or any other services.

Access to your director ID information can only be requested by you personally. If someone lodges a complaint on your behalf, we can only discuss the complaint in general terms with them.

How we handle your complaint

When we receive your complaint, we’ll aim to phone you in 3 business days.

Phone calls from us will not show a number on your phone’s caller ID. It may display on your phone as 'Unknown caller', 'No caller ID', 'Private number' or similar wording.

If we need to access and discuss your personal information, we may need to speak to you to confirm your identity. We'll work closely with you and may ask you to provide further details to finalise the complaint. We'll aim to resolve your complaints within 15 business days.

During the complaint resolution process

We'll:

keep you informed of progress
give you the opportunity to provide extra information or comments before finalising the complaint
give a clear and concise explanation of the action taken to resolve the complaint and the reasons for the decision
provide more information about further rights of review, including the Commonwealth Ombudsman, if you’re not satisfied with the outcome of your complaint.

When you interact with us

When we interact with you

We expect you to:

treat our staff with courtesy, consideration and respect. We do not accept any abuse or threats directed at our staff.
give us all relevant information. This includes details of letters you have sent or received from us and any phone calls or other discussions you have had with our staff about the issue.
co-operate with our staff who are handling your complaint. We reserve the right not to respond to contact from you if it contains abuse, inflammatory statements or material clearly intended to intimidate.
tell us if you need help to address your complaint, such as using an interpreter or someone who is authorised to make enquiries or act on your behalf.

Other avenues available to you

We will investigate your complaint. However, if you’re unsatisfied, you may contact the Commonwealth Ombudsman using the online complaints form or phone 1300 362 072.

The Ombudsman can investigate complaints about the actions and decisions of Australian Government agencies to see if they are wrong, unjust, unlawful, discriminatory or unfair.

Compliments and feedback

We welcome your compliments and feedback. While we will not respond to you directly, your information is important to help us improve our services.

To submit a compliment or feedback online, you can:

give a compliment using the compliments form
make a suggestion or comment using the general feedback form
tell us about your online experience using our website feedback form.

Review of a decision

If you disagree with a decision we’ve made, you can request a review. Decisions that can be reviewed include:

refusal to give you a director ID
cancellation of your director ID
refusal of a request for an extension of time to apply for your director ID
direction for you to apply for a director ID
disclosing your information to other government agencies.

You’ll need to complete a Request for review of decision (NAT 75363, PDF 274KB) form and mail it to us at:

Australian Business Registry Services
Locked Bag 6000
Albury NSW 2640
Australia

We recommend you keep a copy of the form you submit, for your records.

If you have issues completing the form, find help on our Accessibility page.

Seek an external review of our decision

If you're dissatisfied with a decision we make, you can apply for an independent external review through the Administrative Review Tribunal or the Federal Court.

We will explain your options when we advise you of our decision.

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