ATPF minutes, November 2011

An update on Tax Time 2011 was provided at the meeting.

Current state of play

Meeting discussion

Deb Unsworth, Assistant Commissioner, Client Account Services, provided an update on:

Progress report 18 latest figures as at close of business 2 November 2011.
At the ATO Tax Practitioner Forum meeting on 4 November, practitioners and professional association members congratulated the ATO on a very successful Tax Time 2011. Members remain keen to continue working with the ATO to address issues of suspected fraud and over-claiming, and to learn from current tax time experiences to jointly develop tax tips for Tax Time 2012 to improve agent understanding and the correctness of returns.
ATO Christmas/New Year schedule. A handout was provided detailing proposed messaging for agents and the community on the ATO's Christmas/New Year processing schedule from 23 December to 3 January. Members were requested to provide any feedback to either Deb Unsworth or via the ATPF secretariat.
Recognition that e-tax is growing in popularity.
700,000 taxpayers still lodge by paper returns but that this is reducing.
Exceptions have included mismatches for example between surname and first name, our system is now correcting this exception. Others such as date of birth mismatch require attention from agents to help reduce the incidence.
ATPF members suggested that tax agents check pre-fill as some errors can be detected prior to submission.

Post meeting update

For your information

ATO Christmas/New Year processing schedule published on the 1 December 2011:

Lodge your return early to avoid delays during the Christmas-New Year period
Avoid delays during the Christmas-New Year period - lodge your clients' returns early.

Last Modified: Thursday, 29 March 2012