Welcome and governance
The ATO Co-chair welcomed members and ATO attendees to the Tax Practitioner Stewardship Group (TPSG) Tax Time 2025 meeting.
ATO Updates
Frontline Services
It's been a busy start to the week and so far this tax time we've received 3.6 million individual lodgments. Overall, this is a 3% decrease compared to last year. Lodgment numbers for self-preparers have decreased 2%, whilst agent lodged returns are down 6%.
We've received on average around 22,000 calls from agents each week, totalling 89,000. This is 11% down from this time last year.
Around 21.2 million (or 95%) of Single Touch Payroll (STP) records have been finalised. This is similar to the same time last year.
Member comments
A member queried why so many tax agents are calling when they have access to the Online services for agents (OSFA) portal. We advised there could be several drivers for the calls. The key calls we are receiving from agents are primarily regarding payment negotiations and GST. Overall agent calls are on the decline, and this may be attributed to the reduction in calls regarding compromised accounts.
A member advised the refund requests and Pay As You Go (PAYG) registrations functionality in OSFA has disappeared, which may also be a reason that agents are calling. We agreed to investigate this further.
IT system updates & maintenance
Overall, we've had good stability, and performance across systems throughout tax time, with a maintenance release successfully deployed over the weekend.
It was however noted, that at around 8:30 am AEST on 29 July 2025, we saw degradation across all online services that required authentication to access. Other services not requiring authentication remained stable. The issue was resolved around 11:00 am AEST.
Member comments
A member advised access manager was still having problems and there were also some linking issues. We confirmed both access manager and ABR were having some intermittent issues and our teams were monitoring and addressing the degradation.
ATO Digital services
We noted that digital services are operating as intended and there is nothing to report.
ATO Communications
We released a statement in the media centre addressing the Four Corners report that aired on 28 July.
The bill before Parliament to cut student debt by 20% this is not yet law (as at 29 July 2025). We advised that no action is required and there will be communications in the next couple of weeks encouraging agents to lodge as normal. We advised if the law passes, the reduction will be backdated to the student debt balance the individual had on 1 June 2025.
Assistant Commissioner Sarah Vawser is presenting a Tax Time 2025 segment at next Tuesday’s TPB ‘tax time tips’External Link webinar.
We've issued a taxpayer alert on GST Fraud, with a particular focus on some property and construction industries making false claims. Tax professionals can assist by reporting of any instances they become aware of to the ATO.
Member comments
A member queried if there were concerns that the Four Corners story will be seen as a ‘how to’ guide and whether we are expecting an increase in fraudulent claims as a result. We advised there have been a number of changes to strengthen the system since Operation Protego and we're closely monitoring the situation.
A member queried whether the communications to agents regarding the bill before Parliament to cut student debt, will be shared with the Content and Communications Working Group first. We advised until the legislation passes, no action can be taken, as this bill belongs to the Department of Education - however we will consider this suggestion.
Member Insights and Experience
Member comments
A member advised that from a tax clinics point of view, they're receiving a large amount of contact from individuals and small businesses experiencing financial difficulty. The tax clinics are analysing their data from the past 7 years regarding contact received, and what was required to assist. With over 10,000 applications during this time, they believe the data may assist the ATO to provide future educational pieces for vulnerable taxpayers. We advised we would be interested in the findings from their analysis.
A member raised concerns around a communication issuing through myGov for first time PAYG Instalment receivers. Taxpayers receiving this message do not know what it means, the content seems to be missing the mark, and there is no call to action. We advised we will take the review of this communication as an action item.
A member noted the Tax Ombudsman has released a report on letters issued by the ATO and agreed with the report, that too often the ATO is writing from a revenue authority focus without providing content the audience can clearly understand. We agreed with and will be implementing the Tax Ombudsman’s recommendations.
Members agreed to shift the meetings to fortnightly. The next meeting will be Tuesday 12 August.
Useful links
- Tax Time 2025
- Overview of the key changes
- Support for your practice
- The Tax practitioner assistance (TPA) service
- TPSG Tax time 2025 key messages
- Tax time lodgment statistics