ATO urges myTax users to wait until August

Reveals it will ‘check’ deductions claims in real-time.

The Australian Tax Office has urged taxpayers to put off filing their returns via myTax until August while it waits for pre-fill data to arrive from employers, banks, and other third parties.

Assistant Commissioner Graham Whyte said that over half a million Australians had filed returns using myTax in the first 18 days.

But he urged others to put off doing their tax to avoid making any mistakes.

“My big tip to people planning to use myTax is to hold off until August,” Whyte said.

“By this time, we will have received most the data we need from employers, banks, government agencies and other third parties to pre-fill tax returns.

“For many people, this means all they have to do is double-check the information we have pre-loaded for them, enter any deductions they have and then hit submit.

“Ninety-six percent of people who make mistakes when declaring their income lodge before their pre-fill information is available.”

Australians wanting to file their taxes electronically this year must use the myTax application after the ATO retired the previous e-tax system.

Until this year, myTax has only been available for taxpayers with straightforward tax affairs – others were routed back to e-tax in past years to complete their returns.

While this year the delay to use myTax is to wait for pre-filled information, last year taxpayers couldn’t file with myTax in the first weeks due to a system glitch that prevented returns from being lodged.

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