Australian Tax MCP Server

The Australian tax knowledge base for AI agents.

Connect your AI agent to 34,500+ ATO documents (guidance, legislation, and public rulings) and get cited answers to the tax questions you'd otherwise pay your accountant to answer.

ato-mcp.com.au · Tool reference · Changelog

Quick start

Add the MCP Server to the client you already use.

Standard config works with most tools that run stdio servers:

{
  "mcpServers": {
    "ato": {
      "command": "npx",
      "args": ["-y", "ato-mcp"]
    }
  }
}

npm install -g ato-mcp   # optional, npx works without installing

For hosts that natively support remote MCP servers, connect your client directly:

claude mcp add --scope user --transport http ato https://api.ato-mcp.com.au/mcp

Then run /mcp inside Claude Code, select ato, and choose Authenticate. Your browser opens to sign in.

codex mcp add ato --url https://api.ato-mcp.com.au/mcp
codex mcp login ato

codex mcp login opens your browser to sign in.

gemini mcp add --scope user --transport http ato https://api.ato-mcp.com.au/mcp

Gemini CLI detects the auth challenge on first use and opens your browser automatically.

Or from the command line:

code --add-mcp '{"name":"ato","type":"http","url":"https://api.ato-mcp.com.au/mcp"}'

VS Code prompts to authenticate in your browser when the server first connects.

Or add to ~/.cursor/mcp.json:

{
  "mcpServers": {
    "ato": {
      "url": "https://api.ato-mcp.com.au/mcp"
    }
  }
}

Cursor shows a "Needs login" prompt on the server. Click it to sign in via your browser.

Add to ~/.codeium/windsurf/mcp_config.json:

{
  "mcpServers": {
    "ato": {
      "type": "streamable-http",
      "serverUrl": "https://api.ato-mcp.com.au/mcp"
    }
  }
}

If Windsurf doesn't open a sign-in window, use the standard npm config at the top of this section instead; it handles the browser sign-in itself.

1. Open Settings → Connectors
2. Add custom connector
3. Paste https://api.ato-mcp.com.au/mcp
4. Click Connect and sign in when the browser window appears

Available on paid Claude plans. Claude Desktop can alternatively use the standard npm config at the top of this section in claude_desktop_config.json.

1. Settings → Apps & Connectors → enable Developer Mode
2. New connector → paste https://api.ato-mcp.com.au/mcp
3. Choose OAuth and sign in when prompted

Requires a plan with connector support.

Use the standard npm config at the top of this section. This package bridges any stdio host to the hosted server with the same browser sign-in.

Full instructions: ato-mcp.com.au/install

What's in the corpus

Everything the ATO publishes, in one searchable place, refreshed monthly:

| Source | Contents | |---|---| | ato.gov.au | 23,000+ guidance pages, forms & instructions, occupation guides, myTax help | | Legislation | ITAA 1997, ITAA 1936 and the GST Act: 6,468 sections + 2,310 statutory definitions (point-in-time aware) | | ATO public rulings | 4,900+ rulings across 10 types (TR, TD, GSTR, GSTD, PR, CR, LCR, PCG, MT, FTR), withdrawn rulings flagged | | Cross-references | 64,217 links between rulings and legislation | | Thresholds | Time-keyed values (instant asset write-off, GST registration, CGT discount, super caps, …) |

34,500+ documents (286,000+ searchable passages), refreshed monthly and served from the hosted platform.

The 13 tools

Workflows are the reason this exists:

"Here's my bank transactions, what can I claim this year? How do I write off my new laptop? Is anything in my return risky?"

| Tool | What it does | |---|---| | deduction_discovery | Surfaces every deduction category that plausibly applies to your profile: a curated, cited taxonomy branched across sole traders, companies, trusts, partnerships, investors and SMSF members | | depreciation_helper | Deterministic prime-cost / diminishing-value / instant-write-off / small-business-pool / Div 43 schedules for any asset, with the live IAWO threshold | | bas_prep_checklist | A tiered, cited BAS checklist for your reporting period: which labels apply, what evidence to gather, the gotchas | | audit_risk_check | Flags the patterns the ATO scrutinises in a draft return (WRE vs income, rental anomalies, unreported crypto, …) with risk bands and the guidance behind each flag |

Every workflow tool returns structured data and resolvable ATO citations, never advice in its own voice.

Personal context: get_user_facts, 25 facts captured once at onboarding (business structure, GST registration, investments, super type, residency, …) so the agent never re-asks.

Retrieval: search (keyword and semantic retrieval), get_chunks, get_doc, get_doc_anchors (cross-references), get_definition (statutory, point-in-time), get_threshold (time-keyed values), fetch (live page fetch), stats.

See the full tool reference.

Disclaimer

This service is provided as information infrastructure, not tax advice. It does not consider your full financial circumstances and it is not a registered tax agent service. Confidence ratings and risk bands are guides, not professional judgement. Verify material decisions with a registered tax agent.

ato-mcp is an independent service. It is not affiliated with or endorsed by the Australian Taxation Office. ATO content remains subject to ATO publication terms. Legislation text is reproduced from the Federal Register of Legislation under its open licensing.

See the Terms of Service & Privacy Policy for more details.

License AGPL-3.0 © William Laverty

The hosted platform and corpus are proprietary. Commercial licensing available on request.