Our service standards publicly state the level of performance you can expect when dealing with us under normal circumstances. We are committed to developing, monitoring and reporting on our service standards in areas of importance to taxpayers.
We set standards that are intended to be challenging, attainable with effort, affordable, and meaningful to taxpayers. In doing this, we consider both historical performance and the expectations of those who currently use our services.
For 2012-13, there are 21* service standards we report externally. There are others that help us to manage our business, but are not meaningful for taxpayers. The service standards are grouped into the following categories:
Current year service standards
When you deal with us, you can expect the following service standards:
Registrations
If you apply for a tax file number (TFN) or register, for example, for services such as an Australian business number (ABN) or the energy grants credits scheme, we aim to notify you of your TFN or a decision on your registration application within 28 calendar days of receiving all the necessary information.
Lodgments
For individuals
When you electronically lodge a return for the current tax year, we'll aim to finalise your return within 12 business days of receipt.
We aim to finalise a return lodged via paper within 42 calendar days of receipt.
If we are unable to finalise your electronically lodged return within 30 calendar days of receipt, we'll let you know.
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From 1 July 2012, prior-year individual original tax returns which were electronically lodged are excluded from the 12-business-day service standard. If we are unable to finalise your return within 30 calendar days of receipt, we'll let you know.
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For non-individuals
When you electronically lodge a return, we aim to finalise your return within 14 calendar days of receipt.
We aim to finalise a return lodged via paper within 56 calendar days of receipt.
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If your return is incomplete, incorrect, needs checking, or relates to a prior year, it may take us longer to complete the process.
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If you lodge an activity statement, we aim to process:
- credits - within 14 calendar days of receipt
- electronic debits - within 14 calendar days of receipt
- paper debits - within 42 calendar days of receipt.
If your activity statement is incomplete, incorrect, or needs checking, we may take longer to process it.
Enquiries
If you write to us requesting private written advice (such as a private ruling) we aim to provide our response within 28 calendar days of receiving all necessary information.
If you haven't provided all the information we need to make a decision, we aim to contact you within 14 calendar days to ask for the information.
If your request raises particularly complex matters that will take more than 28 calendar days to resolve after receiving all the necessary information, we aim to contact you within 14 calendar days to negotiate a due date.
If you phone our general enquiry services, we'll aim to answer the majority of calls within five minutes. At peak times - for example, from July to October for individuals who pay income tax, May to August for businesses and during quarterly activity statement lodgment periods - we may not be able to achieve this service standard.
If you visit our enquiry services, we'll aim to attend to you within 10 minutes of your arrival. At peak times - for example, from July to October for individuals who pay income tax - we may not be able to achieve this service standard. We'll aim to attend to you within 15 minutes of your arrival during these months.
Correspondence and other requests
If you write to us, we aim to provide our response within 28 calendar days of receiving all the necessary information.
If you haven't provided all the information we need to make a decision, we aim to contact you within 14 calendar days to ask for the information.
If we find that your request raises particularly complex matters that will take more than 28 calendar days to resolve after receiving all the required information, we aim to contact you within 14 calendar days to negotiate an extended reply date.
If you ask for a refund of overpaid tax, we aim to issue your refund within 28 calendar days of receiving all the necessary information. In some circumstances, you may be entitled to receive interest on the overpayment.
Special circumstances apply for surcharge processing, which occurs four times a year - in February, May, August and November. A surcharge refund may arise from an amended individual tax assessment or from amended member information reported by a superannuation fund. We will issue refunds in the next surcharge processing round, provided the necessary information is available 30 calendar days before the processing close-off date.
If you submit a claim for a direct payment from the superannuation holding accounts special account, we aim to send you your payment within 28 calendar days of receiving all the necessary information.
If you submit a claim for an excise fuel grant, we aim to process your claim within 28 calendar days of receiving all necessary information.
Amendments and objections
If you request an amendment or lodge an objection, we aim to give you a decision on your:
- paper amendment request - within 56 calendar days of receiving all necessary information from you
- electronic amendment request - within 28 calendar days of receiving all the necessary information from you
- objection - within 56 calendar days of receiving all necessary information from you.
If we need further information, we aim to contact you within 14 calendar days to ask for the information. If we can't meet the 28 or 56 calendar day service standard - for example, because of the complexity of the matter - we aim to contact you within 14 calendar days of receiving the information to negotiate a new reply date.
If your request raises particularly complex matters that will take more than 56 calendar days to resolve after receiving all the required information, we aim to contact you within 14 calendar days to negotiate an extended reply date.
Audits
If you're reviewed or audited, we'll aim to notify you of the outcome within seven calendar days of making our decision.
Complaints
If you make a complaint, we aim to do both of the following:
- contact you within three business days of receiving your complaint to work with you to resolve the issue
- resolve your complaint within 21 calendar days.
If your complaint raises matters which will take more than 21 calendar days to resolve, we aim to contact you within 14 calendar days of receipt of the complaint to discuss an extended timeframe for resolution.
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The four service standards for original tax returns and two for amendments are subject to an automated integrity check process to identify potentially fraudulent claims. Any original and subsequently amended tax returns will be excluded from the service standard, even if they are subsequently found to be not fraudulent
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Current year performance
We publish performance against our service standards to honour our commitment to transparent management, accountability for results, and client-centred service delivery.
Service standard
|
Standard
|
2012-13 benchmark
%
|
Monthly performance
%
(at 30 April 2013)
|
Monthly indicator
%
|
YTD performance
%
|
YTD rating
%
|
Registrations
|
Registrations - Commissioner of Taxation
|
28
calendar days
|
93
|
87
|
|
93
|
|
Registrations - Australian Business Register***
|
28
calendar days
|
93
|
96
|
|
93
|
Met or exceeded benchmark
|
Lodgments
|
Electronic tax returns - individuals*
|
12
business days
|
94
|
98
|
|
97
|
|
Paper tax returns - individuals**
|
42
calendar days
|
80
|
93
|
|
90
|
|
Electronic tax returns - non-individuals*
|
14
calendar days
|
92
|
98
|
|
94
|
|
Paper tax returns - non-individuals**
|
56
calendar days
|
80
|
90
|
|
78
|
|
Electronic credit activity statements
|
14
calendar days
|
92
|
100
|
|
100
|
|
Paper credit activity statements
|
14
calendar days
|
85
|
99
|
|
99
|
|
Electronic debit activity statements
|
14
calendar days
|
95
|
100
|
|
100
|
|
Paper debit activity statements
|
42
calendar days
|
90
|
98
|
|
99
|
|
Enquiries
|
Correspondence and other requests
|
28
calendar days
|
85
|
90
|
|
90
|
|
Private rulings
|
28
calendar days
|
80
|
94
|
|
94
|
|
Telephone general enquiries
|
5 mins
|
80
|
82
|
Met or exceeded benchmark
|
80
|
|
Tax practitioners' premium service telephone enquiries
|
2 mins
|
90
|
91
|
|
92
|
|
Visit general enquiry service
|
10-15 mins
|
90
|
96
|
|
96
|
|
Amendments and objections
|
Electronic amendments*
|
28
calendar days
|
90
|
99
|
|
95
|
|
Paper amendments**
|
56
calendar days
|
75
|
93
|
|
77
|
|
Objections and reviews
|
56
calendar days
|
70
|
80
|
|
83
|
|
Audits
|
Audits and reviews finalised advice
|
7
calendar days
|
99
|
n/a
|
n/a
|
99
|
|
Complaints
|
Complaints - initial contact
|
3
business days
|
85
|
95
|
|
95
|
|
Complaints - resolution
|
21
calendar days
|
85
|
95
|
|
95
|
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We use red, amber, and green ratings to provide a simplistic representation against our performance of work at a point in time.
Key:
|
Met or exceeded benchmark.
|
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Marginally failed benchmark by less than two percentage points.
|
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Failed benchmark by two or more percentage points.
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Notes:
*
|
Reporting methodologies have been developed to provide enhanced measurement of service standard performance, based on the items received within a month. Consequently, service standard performance is not able to be accurately measured until the period of the standard (for example, 14 calendar days) has passed after the end of the month. Therefore, the service standard performance for tax returns received in March 2013 is reported above.
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**
|
Reporting methodologies have been developed to provide enhanced measurement of service standard performance, based on the items received within a month. Consequently, service standard performance is not able to be accurately measured until the period of the standard (for example, 42 calendar days) has passed after the end of the month. Therefore, the service standard performance for tax returns received in February 2013 is reported above.
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***
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For applications received from 1 July, our year-to-date service standard performance is 97% for April.
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The tax returns component of the amendment service standards is measured according to the new methodologies for tax return lodgments (as above).
Service standard
|
Standard
|
2012-13 benchmark
%
|
Monthly performance
%
(at 31 March 2013)
|
Monthly indicator
%
|
YTD performance
%
|
YTD rating
%
|
Registrations
|
Registrations - Commissioner of Taxation
|
28
calendar days
|
93
|
93
|
|
94
|
|
Registrations - Australian Business Register***
|
28
calendar days
|
93
|
98
|
|
92
|
|
Lodgments
|
Electronic tax returns - individuals*
|
12
business days
|
94
|
98
|
|
97
|
|
Paper tax returns - individuals**
|
42
calendar days
|
80
|
83
|
|
90
|
|
Electronic tax returns - non-individuals*
|
14
calendar days
|
92
|
98
|
|
93
|
|
Paper tax returns - non-individuals**
|
56
calendar days
|
80
|
92
|
|
76
|
|
Electronic credit activity statements
|
14
calendar days
|
92
|
100
|
|
100
|
|
Paper credit activity statements
|
14
calendar days
|
85
|
99
|
|
98
|
|
Electronic debit activity statements
|
14
calendar days
|
95
|
100
|
|
100
|
|
Paper debit activity statements
|
42
calendar days
|
90
|
100
|
|
99
|
|
Enquiries
|
Correspondence and other requests
|
28
calendar days
|
85
|
91
|
|
90
|
|
Private rulings
|
28
calendar days
|
80
|
92
|
|
93
|
|
Telephone general enquiries
|
5 mins
|
80
|
74
|
|
80
|
|
Tax practitioners' premium service telephone enquiries
|
2 mins
|
90
|
90
|
|
92
|
|
Visit general enquiry service
|
10-15 mins
|
90
|
96
|
|
96
|
|
Amendments and objections
|
Electronic amendments*
|
28
calendar days
|
90
|
99
|
|
95
|
|
Paper amendments**
|
56
calendar days
|
75
|
92
|
|
76
|
|
Objections and reviews
|
56
calendar days
|
70
|
81
|
|
83
|
|
Audits
|
Audits and reviews finalised advice
|
7
calendar days
|
99
|
n/a
|
n/a
|
99
|
|
Complaints
|
Complaints - initial contact
|
3
business days
|
85
|
96
|
|
95
|
|
Complaints - resolution
|
21
calendar days
|
85
|
95
|
|
95
|
|
We use red, amber, and green ratings to provide a simplistic representation against our performance of work at a point in time.
Key:
|
Met or exceeded benchmark.
|
|
Marginally failed benchmark by less than two percentage points.
|
|
Failed benchmark by two or more percentage points.
|
Notes:
*
|
Reporting methodologies have been developed to provide enhanced measurement of service standard performance, based on the items received within a month. Consequently, service standard performance is not able to be accurately measured until the period of the standard (for example, 14 calendar days) has passed after the end of the month. Therefore, the service standard performance for tax returns received in February 2013 is reported above.
|
**
|
Reporting methodologies have been developed to provide enhanced measurement of service standard performance based on the items received within a month. Consequently, service standard performance is not able to be accurately measured until the period of the standard (for example, 42 calendar days) has passed after the end of the month. Therefore, the service standard performance for tax returns received in January 2013 is reported above.
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***
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For applications received from 1 July, our year-to-date service standard performance is 97% for March.
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The tax returns component of the amendment service standards is measured according to the new methodologies for tax return lodgments (as above).
We publish historical data on performance against our service standards for the period 2006 through 2011 for the service standards in effect during that time.
You can view the reports online:
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For more information on our historical performance against our service standards, refer to the Commissioner of Taxation annual reports.
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Last Modified: Friday, 31 May 2013