• Skip to primary navigation
  • Skip to main content
  • Skip to primary sidebar
  • Skip to footer

SuperGuide

Superannuation and retirement planning information

  • SuperGuide Premium
  • Account
  • Log In
  • SuperGuide Premium
  • Account
  • Log In
  • How super works
    • Super for beginners
    • Super rules
    • Employers guide to super
    • Super contributions
    • Super and tax
    • Accessing super
    • Super news
    • Women and super
    • Super tips and strategies
    • How-to guides
    • Super quizzes
    • Superannuation Q&As
    • Superannuation glossary
  • Super funds
    • Best performing super funds
    • Super fund rankings
    • Best performing pension funds
    • Pension fund rankings
    • Super fund average returns
    • Super investing strategies
    • Comparing super funds
    • Choosing a super fund
    • Choosing an investment option
    • Super fund fees
    • Insurance and super
    • Super fund profiles
  • SMSFs
    • SMSFs for beginners
    • SMSF administration
    • SMSF checklists
    • SMSF compliance
    • SMSF investing
    • SMSF pensions
    • SMSF strategies
    • SMSF Q&As
  • Plan your retirement
    • Retirement planning for beginners
    • When should I retire?
    • How long will I live?
    • How much super do I need?
    • Will I get the Age Pension?
    • How much will I spend in retirement?
    • Financial advice
    • Retiring overseas
    • Preparing for retirement
    • Retirement planning strategies
    • Retirement calculators and reckoners
  • In retirement
    • Income in retirement
    • Super lump sums
    • Super pensions
    • Age Pension
    • Working in retirement
    • Life in retirement
    • Senior concessions and services
    • Aged care
    • Estate planning
    • Super death benefits

Home / How super works / Super for beginners / What is myGov and how do I use it?

What is myGov and how do I use it?

December 14, 2019 by Janine Mace 16 Comments

Reading time: 4 minutes

On this page

  • What is myGov?
  • How to use myGov
  • Add protection to your account
  • Make it tough to break in
  • How to create links to government agencies
  • What to do if things go wrong with myGov
  • What is the Centrelink Customer Registration Number (CRN)?
  • For more information on myGov and super…

These days, rolling up to your local Centrelink, ATO or Medicare office to ask a question or get some help is a thing of the past.

Instead of talking to real people, we now have to deal with the government via our myGov account.

But using myGov is not always a smooth process, so here’s SuperGuide’s simple guide to the myGov portal.

What is myGov?

The myGov portal is a simple and secure way to access government online services.

Its aim is to provide Australians with a single online destination for accessing government services with one login and one password.

After registering, you receive an online ‘Inbox’ that acts as a central place to receive messages (such as online letters and statements) from government agencies including:

Are you with a top performing super fund?

Click here to compare more than 90 Australian super funds, including returns, fees, features, awards and more.
  • Medicare
  • Australian Taxation Office
  • Centrelink
  • Child Support
  • Department of Veterans’ Affairs
  • My Health Record
  • My Aged Care
  • National Disability Insurance Scheme
  • Australian JobSearch
  • National Redress Scheme
  • HousingVic Online Services
  • Department of Health Applications Portal
  • State Revenue Office Victoria

Using myGov’s ‘Update Your Details’ service, you can update your address and contact details with participating government agencies. These include the ATO, Centrelink, Medicare, Australian JobSearch and State Revenue Office Victoria.

If you have an Australian Business Number (ABN), you can also connect it to your myGov account.


Need to know

By linking your myGov account to the ATO’s online services, you can access a range of useful super-related information. For more information, read SuperGuide article 10 ways myGov can help you master your super.


How to use myGov

The first step when connecting with myGov is to create a myGov account:

  1. Go to my.gov.au and select ‘Create an account’.
  2. Read the terms of use, then select ‘I agree’ to continue.
  3. Enter an email address. (This address can only be used by one person and cannot be shared with another myGov account, such as one held by your partner.)
  4. You will be emailed a confirmation code, which you enter into your account application.
  5. You will be asked if you wish to add a security code to your account (see below).
  6. Enter your mobile number if you have one.
  7. Create a password.
  8. Choose and answer three secret questions. (These can be selected from a list or you can create your own, but the answers should be easy for you to remember.)
  9. This process creates your myGov account. You will also receive an email with your myGov username.

You can now set up your myGov Inbox notification preferences or link your account to other government agencies such as the ATO.


Super tip

View a Department of Human Services video on how to create a myGov account here.

If you have a question, you can ask the myGov digital assistant and it will reply.


Add protection to your account

If you wish to add more security to your account, you can use a single use security code to sign into myGov instead of answering your secret questions.

With this option, you receive a myGov security code via a SMS to your mobile phone each time you attempt to sign into your account.

Compare super funds

Read more...

Advertisement

To use myGov security codes, sign in to your myGov account and turn on this option in the Account settings. Find more tips about protecting your security on the myGov security page.

Make it tough to break in

Given the sensitivity of the private information held by government agencies and the danger of hacking, both logging and linking to government agencies using myGov is designed to be secure. This means you need to provide ‘proof of record ownership’.

Access to your myGov account will only be granted after you successfully present several different types of identification.

When linking your account to a government agency like Centrelink, the evidence myGov requests will be personalised and based on information already held by the agency.

How to create links to government agencies

Once you have set up a myGov account, you can link to various government agencies. For example, to link to the ATO you need to:

  1. Log into your myGov account.
  2. Go to the Services page and find the ATO listing and select to start the linking process.
  3. Agree to myGov storing your legal name and date of birth.
  4. Provide additional information to identify your ATO record by answering a series of questions.
  5. Agree to the terms and conditions.
  6. Answer two questions from information in:
  • a notice of assessment received in the past five years
  • a PAYG payment summary received in the past two years
  • a super account statement from the past five years
  • a dividend statement from the past two years
  • a Centrelink payment summary from the past two years
  • your bank account details (This must be the account you had your income tax refund paid into last year, or one that has earned interest in the past two years).

If you are first time tax lodger, you will need to call the ATO call centre to get a unique linking code to help complete this process.

Advertisement

Super tip

View a video on how to link your myGov account to the ATO’s online services here.


Good to know

The myGov portal acts as a central hub between the different online systems run by each government agency. It does not hold any information about users.

myGov is only designed to simplify the process of interacting with multiple agencies.


What to do if things go wrong with myGov

If you have problems using myGov, answers to common questions are available on the myGov Help page.

You can ask the myGov digital assistant general questions about using myGov at any time.

You can also call the myGov helpdesk on 13 23 07 and select Option 1 (Monday–Friday 7am­–10pm, Saturday–Sunday 10am–5pm).

Complaints or suggestions about myGov can be made using Centrelink Feedback Form. If you use this form, you will be asked for your Centrelink Customer Reference Number (see the next section).

If you don’t have a Centrelink CRN, choose the Third Party Organisation option at Step 2 on the feedback form, enter myGov as the organisation name and complete your details. Ensure you make it clear your complaint relates to myGov so it is directed to the myGov team.

For problems linking the ATO to your myGov account, check the ATO information at this link.


Advertisement

Need to know

myGov only handles enquiries or problems concerning the myGov website or your myGov account.

If you have a query about a government service, you need to contact the government agency directly. For example, for questions or issues in relation to lost super, you need to contact the ATO directly, not myGov.


What is the Centrelink Customer Registration Number (CRN)?

Aussies who deal regularly with Centrelink usually have a Centrelink online account to submit claims, receive reminders and report income and activity requirements. By registering for myGov, you can link your existing Centrelink online account and undertake these activities through myGov.

Regular Centrelink users also have a CRN, which is listed on Centrelink correspondence or your Health Care Card if you have one. To obtain a CRN, you need to visit your nearest Centrelink service centre and confirm your identity.

For more information on myGov and super…

For general information on lost super, the Age Pension rules or eligibility for the Commonwealth Seniors Health Card, see the following SuperGuide articles:

  • Superannuation Guarantee rules for employers
  • The easy way to find and consolidate your lost super
  • How do I apply for the Australian Age Pension?
  • Commonwealth Seniors Health Card: What it is and how to apply

Are you with a top performing super fund?

Click here to compare more than 90 Australian super funds, including returns, fees, features, awards and more.

Related topics

How super works Super for beginners

IMPORTANT: All information on SuperGuide is general in nature only and does not take into account your personal objectives, financial situation or needs. You should consider whether any information on SuperGuide is appropriate to you before acting on it. If SuperGuide refers to a financial product you should obtain the relevant product disclosure statement (PDS) or seek personal financial advice before making any investment decisions. Comments provided by readers that may include information relating to tax, superannuation or other rules cannot be relied upon as advice. SuperGuide does not verify the information provided within comments from readers. Learn more

© Copyright SuperGuide 2009-21. Copyright for this article belongs to SuperGuide Pty Ltd, and cannot be reproduced without express and specific consent. Learn more

Reader Interactions

Comments

  1. Pamela Mcilroy says

    May 26, 2020 at 5:54 pm

    This My Gov app is the worse. I accessed the Centrelink app filled it out then it tells me i must have a MyGov to connect. Well i started to fill the My Gov out and it kept telling me the CAN is incorrect which it isn’t and then the code is wrong. I tried to connect My Gov for 2 & half hrs. So distressing, i was stressed to the point i was sick in the stomach, i am 74 yrs old. The My Gov is so confusing and complicated. I still haven’t managed to connect, now I’ll have to go to Services and get them to help me.

    Reply
  2. Gary Webb says

    March 13, 2019 at 8:52 pm

    Had an account and just deleted, it, such a terrible and unfriendly site to use. Can’t link my Tax to it which is shocking as it won’t accept the ABN number my super fund uses or my membership number I use. Won’t even bother to try using it again. heard a lot of bad stories about it but sad so say they are true.
    Maybe if they used a proper web page design company instead of a perm government worker we wouldn’t have to try and go through all of the rubbish this site wants you to use.

    Reply
  3. Sick of MyGovt says

    March 3, 2019 at 1:35 am

    MyGov is just another avenue for harvesting people’s data while taking no responsibility for what may happen to that data. People are forced to have an email eddress, yet Australian government doesn’t provide any free Australia-hosted email service. People have to register email accounts with foreign gmail, hormail, yahoo, etc and submit to their snooping.

    People are also often forced to provide a mobile phone number, yet in Australia nobody can legally obtain a mobile phone munber without handing their ID and personal details over to some telecommunication corporation. Mobile phone services aren’t free either.

    So basically Australian govt demands that the citizens forfeit their personal safety and privacy and give money to foreign corporations just to be able to use MyGov.

    Reply
  4. Johnny says

    July 22, 2018 at 10:50 pm

    A huge flaw with the MyGov system is that each time you get locked out for some reason, you have to create a damn new account. This is stupid to start with, but it’s made worse by the fact that you can’t use the same email address. How many people will bother creating a whole new email address just for this system? Why can’t they just reset the account or delete it so you can reuse your email address? The business analysis done on this system is very poor indeed and an embarassment for the Australian Government. Outsourcing doesn’t work and this is proof.

    Reply
  5. joe blow says

    July 19, 2018 at 1:08 pm

    Why does the mygov site for lodging your daily code for work for the dole activity not work , this is a waste of time , when it tells you to contact your service provider for help they can’t do anything , this is a waste of time , they then tell you to ring centrelink , you can’t do yhis either because you are supposed to be working , make sure things work before implementing something on the site . no wonder people go off .

    Reply
  6. nobody_apparently says

    July 9, 2018 at 10:40 am

    Is it now compulsory for Australian citizens to use computers to get essential services?
    Is it now compulsory for citizens to have a bank account to be eligible for welfare?
    Is it compulsory now to have a mobile phone, unless you want to forfeit your right to income support?
    There is no basis in law for any of these things.

    The Department of Human Services causes extreme hardship for people not complying with processes and policies which serve only the interests of public servants and which have no basis in law.
    They literally starve their “customers” into submission.

    Reply
  7. MR J says

    July 6, 2017 at 5:32 pm

    How about putting the politians whom make the rules for Centrelink on a payment for six months and do the same for all Centrelink employees.why don’t the employer employee rules apply to government jobs.

    Reply
  8. Jason says

    July 6, 2017 at 12:48 pm

    When will Centrelink take responsibility for their mistakes.a family member of mine has incurred a debt of $7000 due to a centre link mistake. I do really hope somebody will hack the system.then it might get the politicians that think it’s working might get it right. all this technology is not the answer! maybe if all these Centrelink employees where put on the other side of the counter somebody might fix the system.

    Reply
  9. Vincent says

    April 27, 2017 at 12:25 pm

    If you have setup security code to be sent to your mobile, and happen to change mobile numbers, you apparently can’t get anyone to update your data so you can keep using your mygov account. You have to create a new account, meaning you need a new email address since your current one is attached to the mygov account you can no longer use. This has to be the most ridiculous system in the history of IT. Banks update your details for you over the phone. Why can’t mygov do the same? Well, you’d have to be able to reach them for that, which doesn’t seem possible either. Called 132307 and waited over 30 minutes on 2 occasions, more than 10 minutes on 3 more occasions, before giving up.

    Reply
    • Terry Towling says

      July 3, 2018 at 7:22 pm

      I hear you Vincent!!! I wasted 1 hour at work today, then another hour just now at home, all for trying to access first MyGov, then Medicare. I had the same initial problem you mention (change MP #). When creating new email etc etc still DID NOT WORK, I too called that number, waited, listened to the instructions about what to click on, and wrote them down. Went back to the website and, low and behold, there was no such thing to click on!!! Eventually, I’ve gotten past My Gov and, on typing in my recently-newly-created Medicare password, was denied access!!! I’m feeling VERY ready to complain but, no, I’ve been locked out for another 2 hours. ANGER

      Reply
  10. Barry Blackman says

    February 28, 2017 at 2:38 pm

    What has happened to MyGov?
    I can no longer update the value of my smaller assets. i.e. Bank balance, motor vehicle values, etc.
    How is it possible to stop visiting Centrelink and do all business on MyGov when it is impossible to update it?

    Reply
  11. carlos constantine says

    February 28, 2017 at 11:21 am

    I have set MyGov some years ago linked Centrelink, ATO, Medicare.
    I am 75 years old retired July 2016 and receiving a part pension.
    Now, I have tried to adjust my assets a couple of times, I was able to access my Assets and adjust my bank and Super pension balances.
    Saved the data and exited.
    A couple of months later I had to adjust my bank balance. The system would not allow me “Account cannot be accessed at this time”
    Tried to ring Centrelink waited more than an hour, no response.
    I had to go to a Centrelink centre.
    They could not give me a reason why. They could access/unlock my account. So far this has happened 3 times.
    I have reasonable computer knowledge, but feel sorry for people who don,t

    Reply
    • Barry says

      July 2, 2018 at 5:59 pm

      “Account cannot be accessed” doesn’t mean it’s a Centrelink problem. It could’ve been your network or wi-fi at home at the time.

      Reply
  12. p1 says

    February 28, 2017 at 9:57 am

    Just waiting for this site to be hacked, everyone’s personal details all over the web. Not a matter of if, just a matter of when.

    Of course it doesn’t address the issue of older, or poorer people without access to the internet, or people unable to access the internet, etc.

    Reply
  13. John Lansell says

    February 28, 2017 at 9:50 am

    I am still waiting on the SMS number to log on to centrelink after it was allegedly sent.

    Reply
  14. Rob C says

    February 28, 2017 at 9:15 am

    All seems great in theory but as we know it will end up as a “screwup” for lots of people, causing untold stress and misery. I use both visits to the offices and MyGov and personal contact is far more productive. Also what happens to the homeless, elderly with no internet access and the increasing number of low income families and individuals who will not be able to afford private/ confidential Internet access in the future?
    In many cases technology is delivering an environment that is inaccessible to millions and will lead to an Australia many will not want to be part of.

    Reply

Leave a Reply Cancel reply

Your email address will not be published. Required fields are marked *

Primary Sidebar

How super works
Super for beginners
Super rules
Employers guide to super
Super contributions
Super and tax
Accessing super
Super news
Women and super
Super tips and strategies
How-to guides
Super quizzes
Superannuation Q&As
Superannuation glossary
Super funds
Best performing super funds
Super fund rankings
Best performing pension funds
Pension fund rankings
Super fund average returns
Super investing strategies
Comparing super funds
Choosing a super fund
Choosing an investment option
Super fund fees
Insurance and super
Super fund profiles
SMSFs
SMSFs for beginners
SMSF administration
SMSF checklists
SMSF compliance
SMSF investing
SMSF pensions
SMSF strategies
SMSF Q&As
Plan your retirement
Retirement planning for beginners
When should I retire?
How long will I live?
How much super do I need?
Will I get the Age Pension?
How much will I spend in retirement?
Financial advice
Retiring overseas
Preparing for retirement
Retirement planning strategies
Retirement calculators and reckoners
In retirement
Income in retirement
Super lump sums
Super pensions
Age Pension
Working in retirement
Life in retirement
Senior concessions and services
Aged care
Estate planning
Super death benefits
Advertisement
Compare super funds

Join SuperGuide Premium and give your retirement plans a boost.

Get access to independent expert commentary on the latest super, retirement and SMSF issues, including the top performing super and pension funds, how much super is enough, the latest super rates and thresholds and new super measures and strategies.

You’ll have access to more than 600 articles, how-to super guides, checklists, tips, calculators, reckoners and other tools, as well as a monthly newsletter.

Find out more

Footer

Important: Disclaimer

All information on SuperGuide is general in nature only and does not take into account your personal objectives, financial situation or needs.

You should consider whether any information on SuperGuide is appropriate to you before acting on it.

If SuperGuide refers to a financial product you should obtain the relevant product disclosure statement (PDS) or seek personal financial advice before making any investment decisions.

Learn more

About SuperGuide

SuperGuide is Australia’s leading superannuation and retirement planning website. Learn more

Superguide Pty Ltd ATF Superguide Unit Trust as a Corporate Authorised Representative (CAR) is a Corporate Authorised Representative of Independent Financial Advisers Australia, AFSL 464629

  • Contact us
  • Advertise on SuperGuide
  • Careers

Before using this website

  • New to SuperGuide?
  • Terms and Conditions of Use
  • Financial Services Guide
  • Privacy Policy and Privacy Collection
  • Copyright Policy
  • Editorial Policy and Complaints
  • Disclaimer

  • SuperGuide Premium
  • Subscriber feedback
  • Sitemap