The information is made progressively available as it is reported to us by other organisations, such as banks, employers, government agencies and private health insurers. Most of the information is available by early August.
After that, all you have to do is:
- review the pre-filled information
- check for, and enter any other missing details to complete your tax return.
Remember, you must make sure all the information entered in your tax return is correct before you lodge it.
Why should I wait until early August to use myTax?
The substantially pre-prepared myTax return is based on data reported to us from a variety of providers. The information is used to automatically pre-fill your myTax return. Generally most of this information is available by late July, but sometimes it takes even longer for all of your information to be available. For example, you may find that some of your payment summaries have downloaded, but not all of them.
If you prefer not to wait until all your information downloads you will still be able to use myTax from 1 July 2014, however you will need to enter the information yourself to complete and lodge your return. You will need all your records and statements to do this.
If you wait until early August it will take less time for you to prepare and lodge your return.
What data can be pre-filled?
All of the information that is available at the time you do your myTax return will automatically pre-fill for you, including:
- government payments that are taxable
- pay as you go (PAYG) payment summaries
- bank interest
- public company dividends
- private health insurance policy details.
What if all my data doesn't pre-fill?
There are a couple of reasons why all your data might not pre-fill.
We haven't received the information yet
We receive information from third-party providers from 1 July, with most information available by late July. Most information is ready to download and pre-fill within a couple of days of us receiving it.
We could not match the information to your record
This usually happens when information sent to us by third-party providers, such as name, date of birth, address and tax file number (TFN), does not match our records.
The information did not pass all processing checks
There may be some errors in the information sent to us by the third-party provider, for example, there may be alphabetical characters in a 'dollars and cents' field.
What if I don't agree with the pre-filled information?
You can amend or delete pre-filled information if you have more current information in your statements or records.
If you don't understand or agree with the pre-filled information, you should:
- check the pre-filled information against your own records or statements
- clarify the discrepancy with the third-party provider; they may need to send amended information to us.