Millions of Australians will be logging into their myGov account to lodge their tax returns. You might think the system is secure — after all, the government is expected to safeguard your information — but it's not.

The Australian Tax Office (ATO) has admitted to the ABC that more than half a billion dollars has been claimed over the past two years by fraudsters exploiting a glaring security gap in the agency's identity checking system.

In December, ABC Investigations revealed how criminals were gaining unauthorised entry to the ATO's data by creating false myGov accounts and linking them to the tax files of genuine taxpayers.

myGov is the central hub used to access an array of Commonwealth services including the ATO, Medicare, and Services Australia.

The report exposed how credentials stolen from high-profile hacks like Medibank and Optus have been used by criminals to circumvent security checkpoints used by the ATO, and how the agency was failing to identify some fraudulent activity on accounts it managed.

As company directors scramble to file their Director ID applications ahead of December 14, the Australian Taxation Office (ATO) says it will consider penalties for business leaders who “deliberately” sidestep the new identification system.

The application window for the compulsory Director ID system, which provides business leaders with a unique 15-digit number identifying their corporate activities, officially closed on November 30.

Under the Corporations Act 2001, the maximum criminal penalty for company directors who go without a Director ID Number (DIN) is $13,200, with maximum civil penalties ballooning out to $1.1 million.

However, a lack of awareness among the broader business community, error codes from the related myGovID system, and a blowout in customer assistance wait times meant some 700,000 of Australia’s 2.5 million company directors were yet to sign up by the end of the month.

From 1 July 2025, the concessional tax rate applied to future earnings for balances above $3 million will be 30 per cent, instead of 15 per cent. This adjustment will affect around 80,000 people in 2025/26.

The superannuation fund will continue to pay tax at 15 per cent on earnings in accumulation. The individual will be liable for the additional tax of 15 per cent.

An individual’s Total superannuation balance includes all of their superannuation interests and is not a separate figure for each interest — i.e. the $3 million threshold will be applied on a per-individual basis and not on a per-account or per-fund basis.