The final countdown: ATO reminds taxpayers to lodge now

The Australian Taxation Office (ATO) is reminding the two million taxpayers who are yet to lodge their 2025-26 individual income tax returns that now is the time to do it. ATO Assistant Commissioner Anita Challen said taxpayers who are lodging their own return have until 11:59PM local time Monday 2 November to submit on time. "Because the 31 October deadline falls on a weekend, taxpayers have a couple of extra days to lodge their return this year, but that doesn’t mean they should leave it to the last minute," said Ms Challen. "When people rush to lodge, they're more likely to make mistakes or overlook important information. "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." Registered tax professionals are still required to lodge any overdue prior year returns for existing clients and add new clients to their client list by 31 October. Using a registered tax professional The ATO is also reminding taxpayers who engage a tax professional to ensure they are registered with the Tax Practitioners Board (TPB) and to be on their books by 31 October. The reminder follows an increase in tax returns suspected of being prepared by unregistered preparers who charge fees for their services while encouraging false or inflated claims. "Taxpayers should be sceptical of anyone making promises that sound too good to be true," Ms Challen said. "No reputable tax professional will encourage you to inflate your deductions, guarantee a refund amount, or claim they can fast-track ATO processing." So far this tax time, the ATO has stopped over 10,000 returns suspected to be prepared by unregistered preparers which contained more than $170 million in deduction claims. TPB chair, Peter de Cure, said unregistered prepares are an "important compliance priority" for the TPB. "Unregistered preparers can expose taxpayers to significant risks and undermine the integrity of the tax system," he said. “Before engaging a tax practitioner, we encourage taxpayers to look for the Registered tax practitioner symbol and check the TPB Register to make sure the tax practitioner is registered.” Anyone who suspects unregistered activity can report it to the TPB. Taxpayers can access trusted information and self-help tools through the ATO app, which is the best way to check on the progress of a return, ATO website and ATO Community making it easier to get answers without needing to call the ATO. Tax time resources are also available in a range of languages other than English including new content in Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander languages.

The final countdown: ATO reminds taxpayers to lodge now

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