ATO updates
Frontline services
We're committed to providing specialised support for tax agents. We recognise the pressures faced by the profession.
Tax Time 2026 operations remain stable, supported by increasing lodgment volumes and strong system performance.
We're forecasting a 3.5% increase in individual lodgments for Tax Time 2026, which is in line with population growth. Our messaging to encourage taxpayers to wait until their pre-fill information is available appears to have positively impacted behaviour.
As of 13 August, we've received over 4.9 million individual lodgments for 2025–26, which is a 1% decrease compared to the same time last year:
- over 2.9 million were lodged by self-preparers
- over 1.8 million were lodged by a registered tax agent, and
- over 98,000 push returns were generated.
The average processing time on an individual tax return is currently 6 days, consistent with the same time last year.
The average refund of $2,666 is around 3% higher than last year and is expected to increase as tax time progresses.
Last week we answered more than 21,000 calls from tax professionals, with an average wait time of 7 minutes and 15 seconds. We don't block calls from the registered agent phone line.
Key drivers of agent calls continue to be follow-up enquiries; including the progress of ABN applications, tax return lodgments and remission of interest. Business related enquiries include registrations for GST and STP, and lodging business activity statements. Key call drivers seeking advice to comply with tax obligations includes advice on entering payment arrangements, integrated client account enquiries and default payment arrangements.
We encourage tax agents to partner with us by checking the available self-service channels and allowing standard processing timeframes before contacting us. By allowing for standard processing timeframes for progress of return enquiries to pass before contacting us will help reduce avoidable demand, ensuring support remains available for more complex matters.
IT system updates and maintenance
All systems are tracking well and operating normally, with strong usage and good system performance. Waiting rooms haven’t been required.
Digital services
Pre-fill data for ATO interest is not yet available. This is due to challenges in our systems and changes to the legislation, resulting in an inability to use calculation methods from previous years. We are working toward a fix and will send out communications as needed if challenges persist.
Tax time communications
We delivered 2 issues of Tax and BAS Agents News in the past fortnight, featuring articles on protecting your practice, working from home, helping clients stay secure with myID and claiming home based business expenses.
We also published the Latest tax time lodgment statistics on ato.gov.au.
Last week, our Tax Time spokesperson attended multiple media commitments following our media release on ATO pre-fill.
Our messaging continues to focus on protecting taxpayers against misinformation and using trusted sources for tax advice.
Small business
No major updates on enhanced pre-fill of taxable payment annual report (TPAR) data. Less than 20% of taxpayers with pre-filled TPAR data are adjusting the pre-filled amount. As of the end of July, nearly 16,000 returns were lodged with TPAR pre-fill data available.
Superannuation and employer obligations
We continue to encourage employers to proactively work with their digital service providers and clearing houses if they are experiencing teething issues with the implementation of Payday Super, to ensure these issues are addressed.
Member insights and experience
Member comments
The ATO Tax Practitioners Stewardship (TPSG) Co-chair requested that the next meeting on Tuesday 25 August be the last meeting for the TPSG Tax Time Series 2026.