Australians have been warned to wait as for their $1,080 bonus as ‘understaffed’ Australian Tax Office struggles to cope with tax time demands.
The ATO says taxpayers are ‘excited’ about their tax returns and are eager to get the ball rolling but the office have not been able to keep up with thousands of daily calls.
The surge in phone calls follows tax cut laws introduced in Parliament last week – where Australians could pocket anywhere between $255 and $1,215 – and the implementation of new systems to claim returns.
The ATO has said it will try to process online tax returns within two weeks, but asked taxpayers to wait until August so employers can finalise tax.
The Community and Public Sector Union (CPSU) warned on Monday that ATO staff are bracing themselves for more complaints due to skyrocketing wait times.
The ATO says taxpayers are ‘excited’ about their tax returns and are eager to get the ball rolling but the office have struggled to keep up with thousands of daily calls
Recent media reports have found a 110 per cent increase in phone calls to the ATO, with more than 90,000 a day.
Brooke Muscat-Bentley, Deputy National President CPSU, said the government cut more than 6,000 jobs at the ATO in the past couple of years and rely employees with casual contracts.
‘There are people in profit driven private call centres doing government tax work who can barely afford to eat and they should have decent ongoing ATO jobs,’ she said.
Ms Muscat-Bentley said taxpayers could get their calls answered and returns done if employees were given secure jobs.
‘At a time our population is growing and people are paying more attention than ever to their tax returns, we can’t expect the ATO to do more work with less staff,’ she said.
‘Members are telling us the calls they are able to answer start with complaints about wait times and people imploring for more staff to be hired.’
When taxpayers phone the ATO, many are given a recorded message about the high volume of calls before the line is cut off.
‘50,000 taxpayers aren’t even get the option of waiting on hold; they just get cut off,’ Ms Muscat-Bentley said.
The Community and Public Sector Union (CPSU) warned on Monday that ATO staff are bracing themselves for more complaints due to skyrocketing wait times. Recent media reports have found a 110 per cent increase in phone calls to the ATO, with more than 90,000 a day (stock image)
Australian Service Union’s Jeff Lapidos urged taxpayers to display patience amid the delays, Sydney Morning Herald reported.
‘We ask callers to the ATO to be patient and if possible to delay calling until ATO systems get a chance to catch up,’ Mr Lapidos said.
‘ATO staff are doing all they can to help.
‘The ASU is disappointed the ATO and the government haven’t yet advised everyone of these delays.’
The sudden surge in calls to the ATO comes after the Federal Parliament passed personal income tax cut laws last week.
Millions of Australians are expected to receive anywhere between $255 and $1,215 in tax cuts.
Australian Service Union’s Jeff Lapidos urged taxpayers to display patience amid the delays. ‘We ask callers to the ATO to be patient and if possible to delay calling until ATO systems get a chance to catch up,’ Mr Lapidos said (stock image)
The office has also implemented a new system for claiming returns and the introduction of the one-touch payroll system for employers.
The one-touch system means workers in a business with more than 20 employees have to get their own payment summary from the myGov website.
A large number of Australians are struggling to understand the system and are calling the office for help.
‘We have seen a large number of people getting excited about tax time, and our call centre is managing a large number of calls about Single Touch Payroll, myTax or linking our online services to myGov,’ an ATO spokesperson told ABC.
The tax cuts must now wait for the formality of Royal Assent from the Queen’s representative, Governor-General David Hurley, before going live, a process which usually takes between 7 and 10 working days.
The modest tax cuts vary as to a person’s income in the 2018-19 tax year and will be available almost immediately, as soon as the ATO updates its processing systems.
The sudden surge in calls to the ATO comes after the Federal Parliament passed personal income tax cut laws last week. Millions of Australians are expected to receive anywhere between $255 and $1,215 in tax cuts
The tax cut should appear automatically in peoples’ bank accounts as part of their refund after they lodge their 2018-19 tax return.
The ATO has said it will try to process online tax returns within two weeks, but asked taxpayers to wait until August to lodge their returns, as most employers have until July 31 to finalise their employee’s income statements.
Assistant commissioner Karen Foat said if the return was lodged before the income statement was tax ready, the employer may make changes forcing you to lodge an amendment.
‘We strongly encourage taxpayers to wait a few weeks before lodging their tax return,’ she told the ABC.