ATO reminder if lodging tax returns before 31 July 2020

The ATO has reminded individual taxpayers to ensure that their income information is complete if lodging their tax return before 31 July.

The ATO says individuals can avoid a tax time “speedbump” by ensuring their income details are complete and finalised before lodging their tax return. One of the main delays at tax time is people lodging before they have all of the information about their income. The ATO often see people too eager to get a tax refund making obvious mistakes, which can either delay processing the tax return or result in a bill later on the ATO said.

While details from income statements are reported electronically by employers directly to the ATO and automatically included by the ATO in an individual’s return via myTax, employers do have until 31 July to finalise income statements.

Also, information like Centrelink payments, bank interest received, dividends and health insurance can be a number of weeks after the 30^th June before becoming available.