Assistant Tax Commissioner Raelene Vivian was compelled to issue the warning after it was discovered that some users had confused the ATO's official site, ato.gov.au, with commercial tax service portal, ato.com.au.
Small print at the base of the commercial site warns consumers that the site is not associated with the Australian Taxation Office, but it didn't stop at least one user following its recommended link to a commercial tax agent.
The user entered personal financial details into the site but raised the alarm when the service requested credit details.
"But once we got to the credit card thing, that was when we thought, hey, hang on a tick, the Government's charging for this," she told the ABC.
The service carries the same name as the government's free electronic lodgement software, eTax.
Spokesperson for the ATO Caroline Hamilton said the ATO is concerned about the propensity for consumers to mistake the ato.com.au with the Government's site.
"If you're paying someone to prepare your return for you, you need to be assured that they're a registered tax agent," said.
Hamilton then repeated Vivian's warning that tax sites which request money are not associated with the government.
A spokesperson for eTax responded to the situation nonchalantly. He said that the term eTax is widely used across the world and that it made its intentions regarding the service known to the ATO four years ago.
The owners of ato.com.au, a Victorian-registered business called All Too Often, could not be contacted for comment.
