Waiting for Huge Tax Return

LSammywn on 28/08/2024 - 10:08

Hi all,

I'm waiting for a $10 000+ tax return. It's a pretty simple return, it's only so high because I did a short stint of well payed work that included a bonus, but took holidays most of the year. I have no investment or property or major assets. I didn't claim any unusual or large deductions. My fiance is in a similar position (we have the same profession and got the same position and bonus for the same period), except hers is more complicated and yet she got her return immediately. We lodged on the 24th of July, online through our usual tax accountant.

ATO says that it should take 12 days or up to a month for manual processing, so I figured that's me but it's now been over a month. My online services has just given the same message the whole time:

The processing of your tax return has been delayed because we need to verify information you have provided. This can include checking it against data provided to us by employers, banks and other government agencies.

You don’t need to contact us. If we need more information from you, we’ll contact you.

Ensure your contact details are up to date.

My contact details are up to date but I haven't been contacted. I tried to ring the ATO and their machine literally says "we are unable to take calls at this time, try our online assistant." I asked the online assistant and it puts me in an infinite loop with no options offering help. I asked my accountant and he said there's nothing you can do.

Is there anything I can do or is that that? Has anyone experienced this? I'm finding it frustrating that money I'm owed is just sitting there when it could be earning interest for me at least. How can I avoid this if I ever find myself in this situation in the future?

Financial

Comments

  • Fredfloresjr on 28/08/2024 - 10:15
    +13

    Unusual, make sure all your invoices are ready. Audit for sure.

    • eek on 28/08/2024 - 11:43

      Agreed. My returns are $10K+ ever year and only take 2 weeks max. This years was about 1 week.

  • 87percent on 28/08/2024 - 10:28
    +1

    a colleague at work was waiting for his tax return last FY and wondering why it took so long. He checked the details of the return, and found that his mygov was hacked and the banking details was changed. Took him about 6 months to get it all sorted

    • eek on 28/08/2024 - 11:41

      Hacked? Wonder how they got past the 2FA - don't they send a SMS to you? Pain in the ass when you're overseas too! Apparently mygov can't change 2FA settings, so you'll either have to have your SIM card on roaming or create a new mygov account.

  • jv on 28/08/2024 - 10:54

    Waiting for Huge Tax Return

    ☁️🌙

  • Ocker on 28/08/2024 - 11:38

    Probably singled out for a manual check of the return. Don't fret over the lost interest - it's only about $1.50 a day

    • Sammywn on 30/08/2024 - 11:26

      That $1.50 a day is quickly reaching $50. That's a frustrating lost considering the compounding nature of interest.

  • elgrande on 28/08/2024 - 11:49

    Get your paperwork ready…

  • teacherer on 28/08/2024 - 11:58

    I was chasing a list 1.5k tax return and managed to get through by choosing the phone options to talk about a debt.

    In my instance, my return went to a debt payment plan I have from a previous year due to hecs indexation, it just wasn't visible on the payments on the debt

  • nissa on 28/08/2024 - 13:30

    Possibly compromised Tax File Number. I have clients in that situation.

  • MrThing on 28/08/2024 - 14:00

    audit time. lucky you

  • Sammywn on 12/09/2024 - 08:36
    +3

    Update: I called the ATO and rather than going through their prompts I just sat there and waited and they eventually put me through to someone. She seemed confused by the situation and put me through to someone else who after asking me to hold while they looked into it said it was because of one tiny discrepancy which turned out to be a typo from my accountant who put an extra one in a number making it thousands not hundreds. As far as I know the ATO had not contacted me or my accountant but the guy on the phone offered to fix it for me on the spot and my return should now be processed in the next 5 business days! What a relief!

    • webtonmoy on 12/09/2024 - 11:44

      Hold your accountant accountable :P

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