It has started…the mad rush that is “tax season”!

All around the country, individual taxpayers are hastily gathering their group certificates so they can get their tax done – now I’m all for getting in early, but may I offer a few notes that might help with the process?

Firstly – like all businesses, the Australian Taxation Office (ATO) must process their year end accounting…and in the case of the ATO, this also includes testing the new tax return lodgement software.  As such, the ATO will not accept lodgement of income tax returns until after Tuesday 7th July, 2015 and they won’t be processing any refunds until after Tuesday 14th July, 2015 – so your patience is required for the next couple of weeks.

Secondly, at this early stage of the new financial year there is little to no information available to me on the ATO internal website regarding your dealings for the year – this means it’s up to you to provide ALL of your information!  Common items that appear on the ATO reports at a later date, and often forgotten about by taxpayers include Centrelink, interest, dividends and private health insurance details…if you’re not prepared to gather all of these details, you might need to wait a couple of weeks until they are available to me…

Finally, if you aren’t confident completing your tax return yourself, simply Contact The Tax Chic for assistance.

Regards