The cost of taxation compliance

Income tax returns for individuals, companies, funds, trusts and partnerships contain a time-box label, used to record their estimate of the total time taken to complete the form in addition to the time required for the compilation of relevant information and record keeping. As it is not compulsory for taxpayers to complete the time-box label, the figures below should be regarded as an estimate.

The cost of taxation compliance section contains the following tables:

• Table 39: Average time to complete income tax return, 2009–10 to 2011–12 income years
• Table 40: Cost of managing tax affairs for individuals, 2009–10 to 2011–12 income years

We also have a set of more detailed tables available, in the form of Excel spreadsheets, containing cost of taxation compliance data at a much finer level.

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Cost of taxation compliance detailed tables

Data for each income year includes data processed up to 31 October of the following year. For example, data for the 2011–12 income year includes data processed up to 31 October 2013.

The number of entities has been rounded to the nearest five and totals may differ from the sum of components, due to rounding.

Table 39: Average time to complete income tax return, 2009–10 to 2011–12 income years

	2009–10		2010–11		2011–12
	Taxpayers completing time-box label	Average hours per taxpayer	Taxpayers completing time-box label	Average hours per taxpayer	Taxpayers completing time-box label	Average hours per taxpayer
Individuals	99,870	4.9	106,765	4.9	107,995	4.6
Companies	30,105	7.2	29,355	7.0	31.190	8.0
Funds	17,770	5.7	18,160	6.0	17,580	6.1
Partnerships	10,015	8.5	8,590	8.7	7.985	8.8
Trusts	13,030	7.1	12,745	6.9	12.095	7.4

Note-Individuals: this includes individuals who completed the individuals – business and professional items schedule only.

Table 40: Cost of managing tax affairs for individuals, 2009–10 to 2011–12 income years

	2009–10	2010–11	2011–12
Number of individuals	5,671,852	5,930,499	6,128,240
Total cost of managing tax affairs ($m)	2,017	2,125	2,276
Average cost of managing tax affairs ($)	356	358	371

Note - 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.