The ATO released this statement on their website in relation to taxpayers and accountants frustrations of current processing delays.

 

“We understand some taxpayers and tax professionals are concerned about the impacts the delays in processing income tax returns is having as we bed down our new processing system.

 

As many people would know, we had been working with an income tax processing system over 30 years old and needed to implement a new, more efficient system to provide better service to taxpayers.

 

We appreciate the delays do cause problems for people, so we are working extremely hard to meet our commitment to clear stockpiles and resume normal processing levels by the end of February.

 

Under Australia’s tax laws, if we take longer than the normal 30 days to process a return and issue a notice of assessment, we will pay interest on any refund due.

 

We will also do our best to process refunds as quickly as possible for people who contact us experiencing genuine financial hardship.

 

Centrelink also have arrangements in place to ensure people can access their benefits without the need for a notice of assessment from us.

 

In the meantime, we are working closely with the tax practitioner community to minimise impacts for them and their clients, including communicating regularly through a range of different channels on how things are progressing.

With a new income tax processing system in place we aim to provide an easier, more efficient service to the community.

 

We appreciate these delays can cause problems for people and sincerely apologise for the inconvenience.”