National Tax Clinic clients

National Tax Clinic clients in 2025

The clients of the National Tax Clinic program are not a homogenous group. They share a common thread: a vulnerability that has made it difficult or impossible to manage their tax affairs without support. Understanding who these people are is central to understanding why this program matters.

In 2025, the National Tax Clinic program assisted 6,773 taxpayers, a 4% increase on the previous year. Of these:

• 5,461 individuals were assisted
• 749 small businesses were assisted
• 563 were other taxpayers.

Table 1: Number of clients assisted by a tax clinic

Number of clients assisted by a tax clinic	2025	2024	Percentage change
Individual	5,461	5,173	6% increase
Small business	749	626	20% increase
Other or unidentified	563	734	23% decrease
Total	6,773	6,533	4% increase

The slight year–on–year (YoY) increase may be attributable to several factors, including an increased volume of prior year lodgments and a growing number of financial hardship and low–income taxpayers seeking support through the clinics. These trends continue to reflect the important role of the National Tax Clinic program in assisting vulnerable individuals who may otherwise struggle to engage with the tax system and meet their tax obligations.

The 20% growth in small business clients assisted is particularly significant. Small business taxpayers present some of the most complex cases the program encounters, requiring significantly greater levels of support.

Multi-year compliance gaps, outstanding business activity statements, unresolved payroll obligations and personal liability for company debts are common. Each case requires substantially more time and expertise than a standard individual lodgment.

The continued growth in this cohort reflects both the depth of unmet need in the small business community and the program’s expanding capacity to respond to it.

The category ‘Not recorded/Other’ refers to taxpayers who were not clearly aligned with either the individual or small business categories. For example, while there was a 23% decrease YoY in this category, it does not reflect a decline in service. This reduction is mainly attributable to improvements in reporting methodology identified in the 2024 National Tax Clinic program annual report, in which only individual and small business figures were reported.

The people behind the data

Tax non-compliance rarely exists in isolation. For the vast majority of clients who engage tax clinics, falling behind on tax obligations is a symptom of something deeper: financial crisis, trauma, marginalisation, disability, or the simple absence of the literacy and professional networks that others take for granted. The vulnerability indicators in Table 2 below tell that story.

Table 2: Vulnerability indicators of tax clinic clients in 2024

Vulnerability indicator	2025 figures	Top 6	2024 figures
Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander peoples	554	3	312
Abuse (domestic and financial)	371	6	251
Addiction	38		22
Elderly persons	138		101
Family breakdown	105		67
Financial – financial literacy	456	4	297
Financial hardship / Low income	2,442	1	2814
Homeless	90		155
Incarcerated	744	2	606
Language – English secondary language	212		77
Language – student	393		174
Mental health	398		182
Migrant / temporary visa	339		757
Natural disaster	3		0
Physical disability / Illness	245		199
Remote – living	427	5	295
Other	1,021		1832

Several of these figures demand particular attention.

Financial hardship and low income are the dominant vulnerability across the program, recorded across 2,442 client interactions. Of these, 1,483 clients cited financial hardship as their primary driver and 959 cited low income.

These are people for whom the cost of professional tax advice is simply not an option, and for whom unresolved tax obligations carry serious downstream consequences:

• debt accumulation
• ATO enforcement action
• loss of government benefits, and
• in some cases, legal proceedings.

744 incarcerated individuals received assistance in 2025, a 23% increase YoY. This is one of the most overlooked cohorts in the tax system. Unresolved tax obligations are a well-documented barrier to successful reintegration following incarceration, affecting access to housing, employment and financial services. The program’s growing reach into this community is both a measure of need and an indicator of meaningful impact beyond the tax system itself.

554 Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander peoples were assisted, a 78% increase YoY. This is the largest proportional growth of any primary vulnerability indicator in 2025 and reflects the program’s deepening partnerships with Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander peoples, as well as the particular structural challenges those communities face in accessing mainstream professional services.

456 clients presented with financial literacy challenges, a 54% YoY increase. Tax complexity is inseparable from financial literacy: people who do not understand how the tax system works cannot effectively participate in it. This indicator is explored in greater depth in the spotlight section of this report.

371 clients reported experiences of domestic or financial abuse, a 48% increase YoY. For many of these clients, the tax system has been used as a tool of control, with abusers incurring debts in their partner’s name, preventing lodgment, or creating compliance obligations as a form of financial coercion. Resolving these obligations is often a critical step in financial independence and safety.

The data also shows that most clients present with multiple overlapping vulnerabilities.

Most clients assisted in 2025 experienced at least 2 vulnerability indicators simultaneously, highlights intersectionality and compounding disadvantage.

Financial hardship does not arrive without company. It is accompanied by mental health challenges, family breakdown, physical illness, language barriers and housing instability. This complexity is not a complication for the program. It is precisely the reason the program exists.

How clients find us

The channels through which clients reach the program are an indicator of the trust and integration it has built across the community sector. Table 3 presents the various ways clients heard about the National Tax Clinic program in 2025.

Table 3: The ways clients heard about the tax clinics

How clients heard about tax clinics	2025 figures	2024 figures
Advertising and media	464	422
Another tax clinic	43	22
ATO information	316	158
Charities and Community support organisations	643	295
Events	287	31
Financial counsellors	758	828
Government agencies (that is,Department of Human Services)	187	112
National Tax Clinic program website	140	81
University	805	804
Word of mouth	1,209	682
Funded outreach activities	228	n/a
Unspecified	1,693	2,438
Total	6,773	6,533

Over 60% of all clients heard about the National Tax Clinic program via word of mouth, university promotion, financial counsellors, charities and community support organisations, advertising and media and from the ATO.

Word of mouth referrals nearly doubled YoY, from 682 to 1,209. In service design terms, this is the most meaningful signal available. It indicates that clients who have received assistance are actively recommending the program to others. Programs that lack genuine impact do not generate word of mouth at this scale.

The program's embedded role in the broader support ecosystem is equally significant. Financial counsellors, charities, community organisations and the ATO itself are all active referral channels. This is not accidental. It reflects years of relationship-building that have established the National Tax Clinic program as trusted partners in the network of services that support vulnerable Australians.

Clinic actions: understanding demand

2025 introduced a new reporting category capturing how tax clinics managed client interactions from first contact. The data provides an important window into the full scale of demand the program encounters.

Table 4: Tax clinic action

Tax clinic action	2025 figures
Client accepted	4,906
Triage: client no-show	342
Triage: client ineligible	237
Triage: client disengaged	199
Not recorded	830
Triage: services no longer required	128
Triage: eligible but clinic at capacity	98
Triage: referred to another tax clinic	33
Total	6,773

Of particular note, 98 clients were assessed as eligible but could not be assisted due to tax clinic capacity constraints. This figure almost certainly understates the true level of unmet demand. It captures only those who made contact.

It does not account for the individuals who were never referred, never found the program, or self-selected out before reaching a clinic.

The data on eligible clients who could not be assisted highlights another important issue for the National Tax Clinic program: demand is growing, but funded capacity has remained largely unchanged.

The National Tax Clinic program will seek to capture metrics such as:

• the number of clients unable to be assisted due to extended waiting times,
• average wait times across clinics, and
• changes in unmet demand over time for the following reporting period.

This data will provide a clearer picture of the gap between community need and current service capacity.

Capacity is not a peripheral issue for the National Tax Clinic program. It is the central constraint on its ability to serve the community it exists to help.

Activities: advice, debt and dispute resolution

The National Tax Clinic program is often described as a tax assistance service. That description is accurate but incomplete. The work of the National Tax Clinic program spans a range of service lines that together constitute something more than a lodgment factory.

The program provides tax and legal advice, debt resolution support, advocacy and dispute resolution, and proactive community engagement, reflecting the different service models across participating clinics. Each of these lines of work is instrumental. Each is difficult to access elsewhere for the people the program serves.

The National Tax Clinic program supported individual and small business taxpayers address tax related matters across topics including lodgment, tax advice, debt, objections and legal actions (Table 5).

Lodgment remains the most common topic raised by individuals and small businesses, increasing 12% YoY, followed by the provision of advice across a range of moderate and complex tax topics. There was a slight YoY decline in the number of taxpayers seeking assistance to address debt and objection related enquiries in 2025.

Table 5: Assistance provided by topic

Assistance provided by topic	2025 figures	2024 figures
Lodgment	3,922	3,497
Advice	2,599	2,878
Debt	534	616
Objections	51	75
Legal action or activity	18	n/a
Other	1,869	2,417
Total	8,993	9,483

2,599 taxpayers received substantive tax advice in 2025. This is not form-filling assistance. It is the provision of professional-grade guidance on moderate to complex tax matters by qualified practitioners and supervised students. For clients who could not otherwise access that advice, it is often the difference between a manageable situation and a compounding one.

534 clients received assistance with tax debt matters. For many of these individuals, the debt is not the result of deliberate non-compliance. It is the consequence of circumstances: a period of unemployment, a health crisis, a relationship breakdown, a business failure. The program's ability to assist these clients in understanding their obligations, negotiating payment arrangements, and identifying legitimate relief pathways has real and lasting financial consequences for the people involved.

51 objections and 18 legal actions or activities were supported in 2025. These are clients in active dispute with the ATO. Navigating that process without representation is genuinely difficult. The program's capacity to support clients through formal dispute mechanisms is one of its most distinctive and valuable service lines.

The apparent decline in some topic categories should be read carefully. 1,869 interactions were recorded as 'other' in 2025, a category that includes clients assessed as not eligible or not seen. As reporting methodology matures and this figure reduces, the numbers attributed to specific service lines are expected to more accurately reflect the full scope of work being delivered.

The National Tax Clinic program saw an overall 39% YoY growth in the number of tax lodgments completed in 2025 (Table 6). There is an observed decrease in current year lodgments compared with 2024, with income tax and business activity statement lodgments down 33% and 52% respectively, YoY. However, across all lodgment types, prior year lodgments significantly increased in 2025, with income tax returns (ITR) increasing by 102% and business activity statements (BAS) increasing by 521% YoY.

Table 6: Number of lodgments by lodgment type

Number of lodgments by lodgment type	2025 figures	2024 figures	Change from 2023
ITR current year	2,641	3,923	33% decrease
ITR prior year	5,251	2,602	102% increase
BAS current year	323	666	52% decrease
BAS prior year	1,951	314	521% increase
Other lodgments current	68	385	82% decrease
Other lodgments prior	721	19	379% increase
Total	10,955	7,909	39% increase

Prior year lodgments are generally more complex and time intensive and often involve multiple years, require record reconciliation and identification and resolution of various compliance attributes.

Each lodgment represents a client who has been out of the system, often for years, and who has now been brought back into compliance. The complexity involved in these matters, reconciling multiple years of records, negotiating with the ATO, identifying and resolving historic obligations, is substantial. The fact that the program completed nearly 8,000 prior year lodgments in a single year is a significant operational achievement.