For the second year running, electronic tax return lodgments exceeded paper.
Over 1.6 million taxpayers used e-tax, our free, online lodgment service, to lodge their 2005-06 tax return – an increase of almost 18 percent on the previous year.
Starting off as a trial in 1997 before it was officially launched in 1999, e-tax was a world first. It has gone from strength to strength and is now one of the most popular government services.
I’m pleased so many people are taking advantage of our online services which are designed to help them meet their obligations as easily and cheaply as possible.
An important part of ensuring e-tax continues to meet your expectations is consulting with you on new features and improvements to the program.
Over the past couple of years we have been testing a feature where people can download information from the Tax Office and third parties directly into their tax return.
After a limited trial in 2005, e-tax users in 2006 could download information from Centrelink, Medicare Australia, the Family Assistance Office and six major financial institutions.
This initiative has proved quite popular with e-tax users. In 2006, over:
- 80,000 people downloaded their bank interest details
- 22,000 people downloaded information to claim their 30 per cent child care tax rebate,
- 100,000 people downloaded their out of pocket medical expenses from Medicare Australia, and
- 7,500 people downloaded information on their managed funds.
By providing information for people, we can reduce the time they need to spend completing their return, reduce the amount of paperwork people need to keep and help them get it right the first time, leading to fewer amendments after lodgment.
In short, e-tax allows you to put in details of your circumstances and e-tax works out how the tax law applies to you and the amount of your tax refund or liability – it’s as simple as that.
Given extra funding for this purpose by Government, in 2007 we are looking to expand the pre-filling option to make lodging online with e-tax even easier.
Users will be able to download more information into their tax return. This will include bank interest from over 20 banks and credit unions, dividend information from share registries as well as pension information from the Department of Veterans Affairs and allowances paid by the Department of Education, Science and Training. The same facility will be available to tax agents, thereby assisting them to provide an efficient service to their clients.
Users will also be able to download all available information upfront in a single-step rather than at multiple times throughout the program. This initiative will reduce the time needed to complete e-tax and will further simplify the process for users.
Furthermore, we plan to pilot the concept of ‘sign here if the income information we have reflects your circumstances’. This means that e-tax will automatically load your salary and wage information into your return by using the payment summaries your employer provides us. Of course, taxpayers may still need to make adjustments to claim such things as work-related expenses, tax deductible gifts and rebates, or if they have other sources of income.
Looking even further ahead we will redevelop e-tax to make it compatible with any computer system that has internet access. We will test this with a small group of users in 2008, aiming to make it available more broadly in future years - pending the success of the trials.
Initiatives like e-tax continue to improve the experience taxpayers have when dealing with us. One of the strongest indicators that e-tax is meeting expectations is the high level of repeat users.
Over 73% of 2005 users used the service again in 2006, so even while it continues to attract significant numbers of new users, it is also maintaining a higher level of loyalty than any other lodgment channel.
We will continue to work with you to design improvements and new features together and deliver the services you expect.
Michael D’Ascenzo
COMMISSIONER OF TAXATION
Last Modified: Sunday, 18 March 2007
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