The tax office has issued a hurry up on the two million outstanding tax returns, as the deadline looms in a fortnight’s time.
The traditional October 31 deadline falling on a Saturday means responsible Australians have until the final moments of Monday, November 2, to do their taxes.
ATO assistant commissioner Anita Challen said as of Monday, about nine million people had filed their returns, with about two million still to come.
“The ATO has done a lot of the heavy lifting by pre-filling most of the information that taxpayers need, and for taxpayers with straightforward affairs, it takes on average eight minutes to lodge a return using myTax,” she said.
“That’s less time than it takes many people to change the bedsheets or preheat the oven for dinner, so there’s no reason to wait until the countdown is over to lodge your return.”
The tax office has also revealed it has blocked more than 10,000 tax returns so far this year with deductions worth a total of $170m from likely unregistered agents.
Failing to file a tax return can attract a fine of $364 for individuals, with an extra $364 added for every 28 days the return is late, up to a maximum of $1820.
On top of a fine, the tax office can slap an interest charge of 11.51 per cent on any amounts owing.
If a taxpayer has not filed their return, has not set up a payment plan or requested a lodgement deferral, the 11.51 per cent interest can be compounded daily.
Up until mid-2025, those interest charges were tax deductible – not anymore.
Penalties can also be staggered for a dodgy return.
“Failure to take reasonable care” can cost a penalty equal to 25 per cent of the amount you underpaid. Recklessly filing your tax return can cost a penalty of 50 per cent of the shortfall, but intentionally underpaying taxes or overclaiming entitlements can cost a 75 per cent fine.
If your tax agent makes a mistake, the penalty is your problem unless you gave the registered tax agent all the relevant information for them to make a correct filing and the tax agent failed to take reasonable care.
Tax agents must be registered with the Tax Practitioners Board, and people must be on that agent’s books by October 31.