Sighting, recording and returning original documents 106-07060010

Services Australia keeps forms and letters sent by customers. It does not keep any other original documents.

For more information on storage of documents, see Storing scanned documents.

Identity documents

When received:

• In person or by mail, staff must:
• sight
• code and verify in the Identity Confirmation Dashboard in Process direct, and
• return the document to the customer
• By phone or uploaded, staff must:
• code and verify in the Identity Confirmation Dashboard in Process direct,

Only original and unaltered documents are acceptable.

This includes digital Australian licences or cards when sighted in person by a Service Officer to confirm the security and refresh features are displayed. This ensures a fake image is not being presented. Customers may have these digital credentials within their State and Territory Government app or their myGov wallet.

See Identity documents A to Z, Identity Confirmation and Coding identity documents.

Documents for any other purpose

Staff must:

• scan or copy the document, and
• return to the customer

All documents received that require processing at another location must be scanned at the point of receipt. For, scannable document exceptions, see Scanning Centrelink documents using an MFD for more information

The agency can now accept supporting documents by fax. See Assessing ABSTUDY claims

This does not include identity documents or ABSTUDY new claims.