The Australian Taxation Office (ATO) is reminding the community that its digital self-help tools are the easiest and quickest way to resolve queries this tax time.
ATO Chief Service Delivery Officer David Allen said, ‘we get lots of calls from the community about topics that can be easily resolved through our digital self-help tools, so it may be better to not wait in a queue to speak to someone when you can do it yourself, at a time and place that suits you.’
‘Our website has a wealth of information that you can refer to, including specific pages that explain what’s new this tax time for individuals and tax professionals. There is even a virtual assistant called ‘Alex’ that can help you track down the information you need.’
The ATO also provides digital tools, including My Tax, the ATO app, and online services for individuals, businesses, tax agents which can be used to resolve a range of queries and perform specific actions on accounts.
‘The other great resource worth checking out is our ATO Community – our online peer to peer platform that allows members of the community to ask and share information about tax and super issues with other community members. With more than 117,000 members involved and over 225,000 posts, it’s likely your query has already been answered,’ Mr Allen said.
‘If you use a tax professional, they will also be able to help you with questions you may have.’
The ATO has seen processing volumes increase recently and is prioritising processing outstanding forms and requests from taxpayers. This means there may be longer than usual wait times.
Mr Allen emphasised that processing of tax returns lodged online takes up to 14 days.
‘You can check the progress of your tax return through our app or our online services. Our message this tax time is to go online and avoid waiting on the phone.’
Answers to the most common queries are available at ato.gov.au/topcalls.
