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  • Cost of tax compliance

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    Cost of tax compliance summary table and chart

    Data for each income year includes data processed up to 31 October of the following year. For example, data for the 2015–16 income year includes data processed up to 31 October 2017.

    Chart 17: Average time to complete tax return, 2011–12 to 2015–16 income years

    Chart 17 shows the average time taken to complete the income tax return form for individuals, companies, super funds, partnerships and trusts for the last 5 income years. The link below will take you to the data behind this chart as well as similar data for the 2009–10 income year.

    Note: Individuals: this includes individuals who completed the business and professional items section only.

    The data for the above chart, as well as similar data back to the 2009–10 income year, is available at data.gov.auExternal Link.

    Table 20: Cost of managing tax affairs for individuals, 2013–14 to 2015–16 income years

     

    2013–14

    2014–15

    2015–16

    Number of individuals

    6,172,012

    6,202,558

    6,087,224

    Total cost of managing tax affairs ($m)

    2,301

    2,344

    2,256

    Average cost of managing tax affairs ($)

    373

    378

    371

    Median cost of managing tax affairs ($)

    164

    165

    170
    Notes:Number of individuals: this will not include data from the tax return where the taxpayer has claimed the cost of managing tax affairs under a different label.Cost of managing tax affairs: includes expenses you incurred in managing your tax affairs, any interest charge we imposed on you, and other costs. For more information see Individual tax return instructions.

    Cost of tax compliance detailed tables

    Table 1External Link
    Cost of tax compliance data, by form type, 1998–99 to 2015–16 years

    Table 2External Link
    Tax return form time-box data for the 2015–16 income year, by:

    • entity type
    • lodgment method
    • total business income.

    Table 3External Link
    FBT and BAS forms time-box data, for the 2014–15 to 2016–17 FBT and financial years, by:

    • entity type
    • total business income.
      Last modified: 24 Sep 2020QC 54740