Sort of expected every time and from experience on Census night.
Personal income Tax is due today and Mygov is now down.
Great.
Give you guys the heads up so no need stress. You are not alone.
Personal Tax Return Due and MyGov is down
eatwell365 on 31/10/2016 - 15:51
Last edited 31/10/2016 - 15:52
Last edited 31/10/2016 - 15:52
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I did that. Asked for 2 weeks. Man they were tight. Very reluctant but managed to get that extension.
I wish the process was streamlined. You have e-tax and mygov. There should not be two things to link. One system, one identity/login should be enough.
The login is tough!
On numerous occasions i've entered the bloody SV001 message reference as the security code
Hahaha! Good to know its not just me!
what happens if u submit it a few days late and dont get a formal official extension from them?
a reminder sent to you re deadline prior next year.
If you owe them money, they may fine you, plus you then pay interest on the tax you owe them, and maybe on the fine too.
If they owe you money (i.e. refund), then usually nothing happens to you.
I have only just submitted my tax return from 14-15
Will you get penalized?
Really only get penalised if you owe them money, if you are getting a refund due to deductions etc, then nothing happens
Not that I know of.
You expect this to happen and yet you left it to the last day.
It is well within my right to submit my tax on the last day, something I have done for several years with no issue.
I do not need a condescending lecture from you. I have paid my taxes for many years without fail, this post was informative and I have attempted to add further information and my personal experience. Your contribution does nothing but deride and dissuade me commenting on a forum I love. I am surprised that the Moderator's would allow such a comment to stand.
If they say you're allowed to do it up till the last day, then they must allow you to do it on the last possible day.
rubbish
He is not saying you shouldn't submit on the last day, but if you have an expectation that the website will be overloaded why do it today?
I have submitted on 31st October for many years (at least 5) without issue. Why would I think there would suddenly be a problem today?
Same here - I've been submitting mine on the last day every year since I've started working.
It's only since they moved to this web-based setup that I've had issues. Previously when you downloaded the software you could at least do all of it and then submit at the end - now you can't do anything if the website is unavailable.
On the phone now and the lady isn't granting an extension of time as it's classed as an "intermittent issue" - they will only do it if there is a "service unavailable" message - hard to tell when you can't even see the page!!
There's an expectation of it going down, but just because it's expected doesn't make it acceptable. The ATO is responsible for not being able to handle the load that they also should have expected. This one's on the ATO not him.
Reminds me of that census clusterF.
@17833: How long has this mygov site been up and running for; didn't think its was around 5 years ago…
You can still just submit it another day, right?
My employer didn't provide me with a Payment Summary because they apparently don't give you one if you don't work there anymore.
sure…but by law, you can receive a penalty.
Employees have legal obligation to provide you a payment summary for the financial year you work.
*Employers, not Employee.
I would love to give my Employer a payment summary:
"Pay goes in on time every week which is good. Not enough to cover my weekly purchases of Eneloops, eBay 15-20% off sales and regular OzBargain deals. No smiley faces on payslips. No Friday sun-downers on the company… ever. Pretty average working conditions. No free food. Overall, average."But I won't, because I work for myself.
was typo, thanks for correction
they legally still need to give you one. I've always received it in the post from my previous employers over the years
Yes they do. The Group Certificate is required by law.
If you do your tax return online, your wages and tax withheld will be pre-loaded into your return.
So even if you don't happen to have your group certificate to hand, you can still complete your tax return.
^ this. I've never bothered chasing a group Cert. Its always preloaded.
Murphy's Law got you this time! Bad luck mate, hopefully the penalty isn't too bad.
oh no, ibm aren't in charge of the mygov website as well???!!!
Considering they were contracted for the Census fiasco, they propably service the ato as well.
try Mozilla. I was using Edge, but switched to Mozilla and got two returns done (after getting an extension until end November). it was in their 'troubleshooting guide', Mozilla or google chrome were suggested.
I was using Edge
I feel your pain
Don't stress too much about late fees. Its unlikely you'll be penalised for submitting late unless you owe the ATO money. If they owe you a refund, you should be ok.
Problem generally is that once the deadline passes, its pretty difficult to submit the return yourself, and you might have to see a tax agent to do it for you.
Agreed. I've submitted in December or even in January quite a few years, without being penalised. But I always get a refund, and the ATO doesn't mind holding on to my money until I ask for it.
It might be a different story if you owe them money, they will want interest and may also charge a penalty for late submission.
One problem with late submission (as I found with etax in January one year) is that they eventually take down the online submission facility. I had to download the tax form, print out, fill in, and post. I don't know when the cut-off time is this year, it might have changed anyway.Not sure why u couldn't submit an old tax return online.
I submitted a late tax return by 3 -4 years. I had done all the others, even the latest one. Except that old one for some reason.
Anyway, I was still able to find the eras online and I got it done fairly easily.
You have up to April 30 , just do it on paper and post it.
I can't understand why any Ozbargainer would wait until 31 Oct to lodge their return.
I assume you are all getting refunds - so why let the ATO keep your money any longer than necessary?
It's best use ifwe owe the ATO ;)
If you own them money then you go to a tax agent to get it done. They don't have to submit it until May the following year.
I owe the ATO again - third time running - do salary bumps over the course of a financial year mean that overall PAYG withheld is too little?
Yep, you poor soul. Someone keeps on paying you more and more and the ATO just can't keep up with taking it away from you. Stick it to them!
Procrastination. In my case, it's not a simple return. I have other income and expenses to deduct.
If you're an investor of any sort it's a bit more work. You gotta get all the documents in order and remember what you can claim.
If you have investments, the paperwork for them dribbles in for months.
I always owe… so I put it off. $800 this year :(
It is back up and I just lodged mine. As expected, owe some money to ATO.
The online system being down is never is an excuse because there is the paper form.
You have to request one and get it sent to you, smartass.
Not really being a smartass, there are customer centers in all states where you can get forms and also tax returns forms can just be downloaded in PDF then printed.
https://www.ato.gov.au/Individuals/Tax-return/2016/In-detail…
Unfortunately the customer centres no longer carry the forms. You have to order it online or on the phone and they will post it to you in good time (1-2 weeks).
Alternatively you can download the PDF, print it and fill it out. Then you have to post it (postage at your cost) or lodge it at a customer centre.
I like the paper form because you can fill it out, let it sit for a few days and check it again. Then scan it or photocopy it for your record and future reference before lodging it.
Also I figure if the ATO has to deal with all the paper forms they may have less time to audit people :-)If it goes down on Oct 31, and you decide to use paper, it will take time for it to get sent. The postman won't collect it until Nov 1, and it won't get to them until at least Nov 2 or more likely Nov 3 if you're in the same state. That will be too late.
It's up to the ATO to ensure that it's possible for you to submit it all the way until the final deadline.
I am pretty sure you can still submit the paper form on the last day.
I recall doing it once on one of my first returns (maybe i was flirting with a fine though) - can't see any information accounting for the form delay.
I had the paper forms sent, because the online system was broken for my particular circumstances and would not handle the complex scenario. The ATO help people said that I should fill in the paper form. It only took about 4 days to arrive and after I filled in several pages I got to a section that informed me that if I am a sole trader I can not use the paper form and MUST use myTax.
You can imagine the amount of swearing I did at that point. Had to take a couple of days timeout from doing any more tax related paperwork, I was that pissed off!
So, no, there isn't always the paper form.
Hey for owe money to gov, do we wait till they process the tax return or you can just pay for it now?
Wait.
You won't get the exact figure you owe until they've processed it. The figure Mygov gives is tentative.
Thanks. I thought so.
This really surprises me after the great job they done on the census…
Completely different agencies…
That's like saying the Telstra network is down, so I expect Optus to be down too…But the census was a farce!
Meh, it's all bloody gubrmint, in'it? They're out to get me and you!
Only 2 days' extension time when THEIR system is having problems sounds so ridiculous. Tax agents can request extensions for months if not a year.
Once you're in and it's working, the MyGov tax return website is pretty good, a leap forward from e-Tax and so much better than having to download a new program each year as an individual.
But does anyone else have to go through an automated phone SMS verification code process every time they login?
You must have opted for the SMS verification. I skip this every time, and so I'm asked one of my 5 secret questions. It's usually the same/first question each time I log in…"which primary school did you attend ?" unless I log out and log back in, in which case it asks me my 2nd secret question…"What was the name of your First pet ?"
I don't think you can go back to the secret questions once you moved to SMS verification.
According to my Tax agent - we have until 31 March 2017 - (I guess if it's submitted by them)
Usually if u submit it with the tax agent you get longer right?
If it's online doing yourself it's Oct 31 unless otherwise system down etc…
I believe you get until some time in May the following year, if using a registered tax agent.
I submitted my last three year's tax returns 3, 2 and 1 years late. I wouldn't stress too much about missing the deadline, but calling them up for an extension as per 17833 said seems like a good bet.
Submitting 3,2,1 late or whatever all depends on whether you owe them money or not. If they owe you $$ then they're quite happy extending but if you owe $$$ then it's not that straight forward.
I had no problems with the website last night.
Submitting the tax return is like submitting your University Accounting assignment, You rack of disciprine
I have submitted on the last week of June, about 9 months late. No penalty as I didn't owe the ATO anything.
I had no problem lodging mine last night. I expected some hiccups but everything went surprisingly smooth.
All running well now. ATO has the best service, one organisation that you think value for money to pay our tax.
Local staff pick up calls on time with professionalism.
Anything coming from the Aus Gov and it includes a website, is gonna be a fail. No doubt.
I must say information from ATO about tax is pretty comprehensive and complete. last year I uses eTax now uses MyGov - it's totally a much better improvement.
That's true. Surprisingly enough, was easier this year to do your tax return.
Someone has been negging our comments, surely someone having problem with ATO :)
Each to their own but I really don't like the new 'site' and how it's just dumbed down (supposedly simplified) to complete your return. This is the direction that many websites are heading these days. It feels like I have little control over what I'm entering. I much prefer the old etax. Then again I'm old school, may be this is what kids want these days.
I'm with you on this one. At least with the paper form you can see the various fields and options that are available to you. This can often help you figure out which sections of the form are relevant to you. The way myTax works is pathetic. Half the options are not visible until you select something that at a first glance is not relevant to you. Similarly, their pre-fill engine has autoselected sections that are completely irrelevant to me and disabling those was a pain in the butt because I had to drill deep to delete the pre-fill information.
It probably works just fine for 90% of the simple cases, where people have a single employer that pays on a regular basis, sends a group certificate at the end of the year and the only expenses they have is a few hundred bucks in uniforms/education/transport/home office. Good luck to anyone running a small business with multiple clients and doing export sales. No wonder people need accountants and drop hundreds or thousands of dollars each year for someone else to deal with the ATO.
Dumbed down ? More like a leapfrog into the nowadays. Keep up baby boomers.
Little square boxes to write each numeral in because the ATO scanner can't decipher handwriting. Now that's dumbed down for the computers sake.
Bring forth the swipe left swipe right touch screen etax return "coming soon to a screen near you" and sponsored by Apple now that IBMs got the arse.
LOL…as I said horses for courses. I'm not talking about paper returns (that's ancient), I'm talking about the eTAX (i.e just prior to bundling it all up into myGOV). Also it's not necessarily an improvement as they had to deal with the restrictions of making it browser-based (rather than software based) so in all likelihood they had to take a step back to accommodate the integration into myGOV.
I hope all you good OzBargainers claimed your free $10 bucket donation again this year, and that new alarm clock beside your bed to wake you up for work.
That's $59 straight up without receipts.
And claimed all your bank fees and charges from the account that receives your taxed/taxable income - at least another $120+, but don't forget to declare the paltry interest earned on those accounts which is probably pre-filled for you.bank fees?? and you call yourself an ozbargainer pffffft lol
@MITM sorry for the late response. Could you pls share a link where I could learn more about the deductions that you have mentioned above. Recently moved from NZ so still trying to figure out the basics here. Cheers
I worked for the ATO for approx 9 years so maybe able to answer some questions. While I can't talk about the rules and internal policies, I can share some general advice
Firstly there is no benefit in waiting for the last day to submit. So best to submit early to avoid traffic issues. However I myself submitted on the last day as I move home in the lead up.
If you couldn't submit it by the 31st Oct and submit it asap it is very unlikely you will receive a FTL penalty. If you have a poor compliance history then you may receive one.
A deferral must be requested before the due date and generally there must be extenuating circumstances. Shorter deferral requests are easily more accepted than lengthy ones
FTL penalties are not based on you receiving a debt or a refund. However those late with debts and previous poor compliance are more likely to receive one
If you do receive a FTL for this situation then just call the ATO. Explain your situation.if you have good compliance history you will properly have no issues in it being remitted
Penalties like FTL and GIC are tax deductible but it's better for you to get them remitted if possible
Thanks. I thought penalty and fines are not tax deductible?
Good pickup. I'm half right, half wrong. FTL is not tax deductible but the interest (GIC) is
Thanks.
Reading the article you can see that as usual they are being very secretive about the cyber attack. And there is no legal duty of disclosure. So legally they do not have to tell you if your personal information has been hacked.
This was discussed also on a previous forum on the Census.
They just tell you "trust us, we know what we are doing". Really?It was a DDoS attack. It has nothing to do with personal security being vulnerable. There is no secretive cover-up
Do you work for MyGov or ATO?
Do you work for ACA or Today Tonight? Did you even read the article?
@4agte:
Do you really think they would tell you?
I do not like ACA or Today Tonight but sometime programs like those bring out the hidden thruth.
If you do not work for MyGov or the ATO how can you categorically sayThere is no secretive cover-up
If you call this no. as per facebook post from ATO you can ask for extension. I got mine extended by 2 days, guess I could have asked for more …
" If you're still unable to log into myGov later today and don't want to miss the deadline, you can request an extension of lodgment. To request this, you can call us on 13 28 66 between 8am and 8pm Monday to Friday or 10am to 4pm weekends. When you call, please have your tax file number on hand and any documentation we may have sent to help us establish your identity. "