ATO website CRASHES as thousands of Australians rush to withdraw second $10,000 from their superannuation
- The Australian Taxation Office website crashed on Wednesday due to high traffic
- From July 1, Australians could access a second $10,000 from their super fund
- Website crashed 30 minutes into the new financial year, with outages from 12.14
The Australian Taxation Office website has crashed as thousands have rushed to withdraw a second $10,000 from their superannuation.
Australians struggling financially amid the coronavirus pandemic were granted another opportunity to dip into their retirement fund from July 1.
The site crashed within half an hour of the new financial year, with users reporting outages from as early as 12.14am on Wednesday morning.
The Australian Taxation Office website has crashed 30 minutes into the new financial year as thousands of Australians applied to withdraw a second $10,000 from their superannuation (stock)
The federal government launched the Early Release Super Scheme April, allowing Australians to access $20,000 of their superannuation over two years.
The first $10,000 could be withdrawn during the 2019-20 financial year, and the same amount again during the 2020-21 financial year.
More than 2.2 million approved applications have withdrawn a combined total of $18.5 billion.
Many citizen and permanent residents appeared to still be cash-strapped, flooding back on Wednesday to complete the second round of withdrawal applications.
Customers were met with an error message (pictured) after the site crashed due to high traffic
Customers were meet with an error message that read: ‘We’re currently experiencing a high volume of traffic.
‘We understand significant numbers of people need to access our online services.
‘We are proactively managing our online traffic so that systems continue to be available. Thank you for your patience.’
The collapse prompted outrage online, with customers slamming the government for not being better prepared.
‘Seriously you have one job, ‘Daemon Heath wrote on Twitter.
‘A basic website with text that gets slammed once a year (you know this in advance). Do better. if it’s a funding issue strike and get the government to cough up proper infrastructure. Complete joke.’
‘When your IT dept is incompetent on the biggest day of the year,’ Mike Shanahan tweeted, sharing an image of the error message on the website.
‘What’s going on? 10 minutes and counting. Your website is making me late for work,’ Kate Buttery wrote.
Applications for accessing super early in the 2020-21 financial year are available via the MyGov website and close on September 24.
Australians can only access their super if they’re unemployed, are eligible to receive a job seeker payment, have been made redundant since January 1 or had their work hours reduced by at least 20 per cent.
The MoneySmart website advises Australians to seek government assistance and speaking to their bank or lender about possible financial assistance before dipping into your super.