Tax support for individuals

If you're experiencing financial difficulties and you're finding it hard to lodge or pay your tax, we have support available.

Financial difficulties

Depending on your circumstances, we may be able to:

• give you extra time to lodge or pay your tax
• set up a payment plan tailored to your individual situation
• remit penalties or interest.

For support tailored to your needs, speak with your registered tax practitioner or call us on 13 11 42 during operating hours.

Serious hardship

We also have additional support available for people in difficult circumstances who are unable to provide the following for themselves, their family or their dependents:

• food
• accommodation
• clothing
• medical treatment
• education
• other basic necessities.

This is known as 'serious hardship'. Many situations can contribute to serious hardship, including family tragedy, financial misfortune, mental health challenges or impacts of natural disaster.

If you're experiencing serious hardship, we may be able to help by:

• deferring a compulsory repayment (such as Higher Education Loan Program (HELP) or Standard Financial Statement (SFS) debt)
• releasing you from some, or all, of your tax debt
• processing your tax return as a priority.

If you qualify for serious hardship assistance, get in contact with us straight away to discuss what options we have available to help you.

Next steps

• Review the evidence of serious hardship
• Gather the evidence you need to support your application - documents you provide should be dated within four weeks of supplying them
• Apply for serious hardship support:  
  • Defer or amend your compulsory repayment or overseas levy
  • Release from your tax debt
  • Requesting priority processing
   
• Call us on 13 11 42 during operating hours or speak to your registered tax practitioner.

See also

• Health and wellbeing organisations