Australia Tax File Number (TFN) Application (NAT 1432, for individuals)

This file is the source-review record for this document version, per the manual-source-review-v1 practice.

Current claim

• status: draft
• verification.method: manual-source-review-v1
• verification.lastVerifiedAt: 2026-07-03

draft, not verified, because the paper form's field-by-field content comes from a 2005 edition mirrored by a third party, not a copy fetched directly from the ATO — see "What was not done" below.

Sources examined

• Document (id, version): au/ato/tax-file-number-application / 1.0.0
• Spec version: GovSchema 0.3.0
• Authority: Australian Taxation Office (ATO).
• Direct access to ato.gov.au returned HTTP 403 for every path tried (curl, WebFetch), for both the informational TFN-application webpage and the forms-and-instructions page — consistent with this registry's prior gov-au-wayback-workaround finding for other .gov.au domains (passports.gov.au, dfat.gov.au`).
• https://web.archive.org/web/20260302080100if_/https://www.ato.gov.au/_next/data/8pOJ0dPo1XRRQvgXDQ204/en/individuals-and-families/tax-file-number/apply-for-a-tfn/australian-residents-tfn-application.json — a Wayback Machine snapshot (captured 2026-03-02, four months before this review) of the ATO site's own Next.js/Sitecore JSON data endpoint for its "Australian residents — TFN application" page. Retrieved via curl against the Wayback mirror (HTTP 200, 220,649 bytes); page text was recovered by walking the JSON tree for value/text keys. Confirms the current application channels (online via a Digital ID such as myID; Australia Post retail outlet using an online form followed by an in-person identity check; a Services Australia centre using the paper form; or by post using the paper form) and that the paper form is NAT 1432 ("Tax file number — application or enquiry for individuals"), obtainable only through the ATO's Publications Ordering Service (iorder.com.au), not a direct ato.gov.au download. Also names the NAT 1589 (Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander people), NAT 2628 (individual living outside Australia), Individual Auto Registration (IAR, for foreign passport holders/permanent migrants/temporary visitors), and Norfolk Island alternatives cited in this document's description and "Out of scope" section.
• https://insightaccounting.com.au/wp-content/uploads/2024/03/TFN-Application.pdf — a third-party accounting firm's mirror of the printable NAT 1432-12.2005 form (6 pages), located via web search since the current edition is not directly downloadable from ato.gov.au. Retrieved via curl (HTTP 200, 215,014 bytes) and text-extracted with a scratch npm install of pdfjs-dist (legacy build) — a plain, non-encrypted PDF whose standard text-layer extraction recovered the full six-page form: the cover instructions, the proof-of-identity document-category table (page ii), and the numbered application itself (Questions 1–14 plus the declaration and an office-use-only proof-of-identity certification page). This is this document's primary field-level source — every field name, label, enum option, and sourceRef is drawn from this mirror's text. Following this registry's retired-form-mirror precedent (fr/ants/fr/inpi's Cerfa mirrors, GOV-742/GOV-749), an older edition of a government form obtained via a credible third-party mirror is treated as a valid field-level source when the live original cannot be fetched directly, provided the live source's own prose (the Wayback-snapshotted webpage, in this case) is cross-checked for currency of the surrounding process (channels, eligibility, form number) — which it was.

What was not done — the one honest gap

The field-by-field content of NAT 1432 comes from a 2005 edition mirrored by a third party (a Perth-area accounting firm's website), not a copy fetched directly from the ATO nor a confirmed-current edition. The Wayback-snapshotted ATO webpage (dated 2026-03-02) still names "NAT 1432" as the current form number and describes application channels consistent with the 2005 edition's own guidance (e.g. an applicant unable to apply online must use the paper form), which is reassuring but not a field-by-field confirmation that no question has been added, removed, or renumbered in the 21 years since this edition. No live walkthrough of the Australia Post online-form channel, and no attempt to independently order a current copy of NAT 1432 through the ATO's Publications Ordering Service (iorder.com.au), were performed in this environment.

A future review should either fetch a more recent edition of NAT 1432 (via iorder.com.au or another mirror) and diff it field-by-field against this document, or drive the Australia Post online-form channel directly (per the ie/irishimmigration headless-browser technique) to confirm the online field set matches.

Test run performed

Phase 4 of this cycle's research brief calls for a test run with valid mock data. A scratch Node script (/tmp/au-tfn-test/mocktest.mjs, not checked into the registry) implements the GSP-0013 condition grammar (equals/notEquals/all/any/not) and resolves visibleWhen/requiredWhen against three independent mock applicants:

1. An adult with no prior TFN/tax history, applying because an employer requires it, born in Australia, no spouse, no other name, home address same as postal address.
2. An adult with prior tax history (exercising the prior-dealing detail fields), a name change before marriage (exercising the name-change fields and nameChangeLinkDocument), a spouse, a home address different from the postal address, born overseas, and a registered tax agent.
3. A minor applicant (born 2011) whose parent signs the declaration on their behalf (exercising signedByRepresentative, representativeProofOfIdentity, and relationshipEvidenceDocument), applying for a school-enrolment reason (exercising the reasonForTfn other branch).

All three scenarios: (a) supply every field that is required given its resolved visibility, (b) pass each field's own validation (pattern/enum/ min-max), and (c) contain no reference to a field name absent from fields[] across every visibleWhen, requiredWhen, documents[] requiredWhen, and steps[].fields entry. All three passed on the first run; no schema defect was found by this test.

The schema also validates against both the zero-dependency structural checker (tools/validate.mjs) and the full JSON Schema draft 2020-12 meta-schema via ajv (tools/validate-ajv.mjs).

Modelling decisions

• Models the standard individual/family paper application (NAT 1432) only, not the online Digital-ID/myID channel or the Australia Post online-form channel. Neither publishes its field set outside an authenticated or in-person session, so the paper form — which every channel converges on for anyone unable to use Digital ID — is the faithful, fully field-documented source, matching this registry's general preference for a paper/PDF form over an unreachable live wizard when both collect materially the same information (cf. in/eci/voter-registration).
• hasPriorTfnOrTaxHistory modelled as a three-value enum (no/not_sure/yes), not a boolean, because the source form itself prints three boxes ("No" / "Not sure" / "Yes") for this single question, and both not_sure and yes trigger the identical prior-dealing detail fields — so requiredWhen gates on notEquals: "no" rather than equals: true the way a plain boolean would.
• homeAddressSameAsPostal is an inferred gating boolean, not a printed form field. The source form instead says "write 'As above' if same as postal address at question 8" as a free-text shortcut on the same address-line field; this document follows this registry's convention (e.g. au/aec/voter-enrolment's nameChanged/addressChanged, in/eci/voter-registration's hasDisability) of adding an explicit boolean gate where GovSchema's visibleWhen/requiredWhen grammar needs one but the paper form only implies it.
• signedByRepresentative is likewise an inferred gating boolean. The source form's declaration section only conditionally asks "please provide your full name" for a signer other than the applicant, without a printed yes/no box; the age-based signing rule (12 or under: parent/guardian must sign; 13–15: applicant or parent/guardian; 16+: applicant) is documented in declaration's own description rather than encoded as a required condition on age, since GSP-0013's grammar has no clean way to express an age-threshold comparison against dateOfBirth as of an unspecified "today" (the same class of gap noted in in/eci/voter-registration's VERIFICATION.md for its own at-least-one-of rule).
• Proof-of-identity documents modelled via documents[], not inline file-type fields (unlike this registry's ie/dsp/pps-number- application sibling, which inlines its identity/evidence documents as file fields directly). Both approaches are valid under the spec; this document uses documents[] per GSP-0014's intent for document/evidence requirements as its own first-class array, matching in/eci/voter-registration's pattern. The Category A/Category B combination rule (one A + one B, or one A + two different Bs; different rules for under-16 applicants) is documented in the applicantProofOfIdentity document's handling/sourceRef rather than modelled as a further structured field, since GovSchema has no construct for "N of category X AND M of category Y" document-count rules.
• **Prior-dealing details (priorFamilyName, priorFirstGivenName, priorPostalAddress*) omit the "Other given names at that time" and district-level detail present in some other schemas' address blocks**, matching the source form's own reduced field set for this historical recall section (it asks for family/first name and a State/Postcode/Suburb address only, not a full current-style address block).
• Office-use-only fields (page 3–4 of the source: office stamp, CLK/DVA customer reference numbers, officer's signature, document codes) not modelled. These are completed by Centrelink/DVA/Tax Office staff processing the application, not by the applicant.

Out of scope

• NAT 1589 (Tax file number application for Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander people) — a distinct form used when the applicant cannot provide enough identity documents to meet NAT 1432's requirements; it adds a referee proof-of-identity reference not present in NAT 1432.
• NAT 2628 (Tax file number application for an individual living outside Australia) — a distinct form for non-residents who need a TFN for purposes other than employment.
• Individual Auto Registration (IAR) — the online TFN application pathway for foreign passport holders, permanent migrants, and temporary visitors already holding a valid Australian visa; a different eligibility population and channel from this document's Australian-resident scope.
• Norfolk Island residents' alternative process — a distinct pathway for applicants on Norfolk Island unable to apply online.
• The Australia Post online-form channel and the Digital-ID (myID) online channel — neither publishes a field-by-field form outside an authenticated/in-person session; see "Modelling decisions" above.
• TFN enquiry (recovering a lost/forgotten TFN without a fresh application) — the source form's own title covers both "application" and "enquiry," but this document models the application path only.

Re-verification

Per the practice's cadence, nextReviewBy is set to 2027-01-03 (6 months). Attempt to obtain a current-edition copy of NAT 1432 (via iorder.com.au or a fresher third-party mirror) and diff it field-by-field against this document; if no material change is found, or once confirmed current, promote status to verified.