ATO: You are not experiencing problems with your tax returns

Ohh well that is a relief. Although i am almost certain after a reference number for my lodgement in the 400's an dated the 30th of June i have still not yet received my NOA or refund to my bank. I am also pretty damn sure when i call the automated progress line it can not even find my lodgement. I am also absolutely sure i do not and never have had a HECS, HELP or SFSS debt in my life. So i look forward to waking up form this dream and finding it is only the 14th of July and my money is in the bank and all those in Whirlpool don't exist just part of my dream.

I'm sorry but it's downright offensive when the ATO claims there is no backlog when there clearly is. How can they be pleased with how the new system is progressing when there are people out there who can't get a straight answer about when they're likely to see their money? This is an absolute joke. I'm not even desperate for my return, but a simple "Hey, we screwed up and we're sorry, this is what is going to happen" would be brilliant instead of mindless spin.

Blatant lies! I have a reference number in the 22xxxx range, it's been 14 days. Where is my money?
Yes let's deny the problems, because as if this fantastic government needs any more red crosses against it.

Lodged on the 3rd of July and still waiting for my return, no useful information from the ATO whatsoever. Really disappointed.

I wonder how they can get away with lying???? I lodged beginning of July and have nothing... It has been 24 days!!! Very simple return yet can get no answers.

Lodged on the 8th, HECS debt, and still no return. Many I know have lodged a week ago and received their refunds. ATO claim that it is still waiting to be processed. The ATO are lying through their teeth on this one and violating their Customer Service Charter which states that they will deal with taxpayers truthfully.

Are you kidding me? When I first lodged on the 1st of July I waited 14 days (the standard turnaround time on etax) before phoning the ATO. I tried their automatic line first, being told I should receive it by the 21st at the latest. I wait for the 21st, nothing, I call the automated line and they've changed it to the 31st. I ring the ATO and they say after the 31st ring back if I haven't received it yet, without being able to tell me ANYTHING except they've received it. It is now the 27th and I have received nothing, and have tried the ATO who have changed their automated line to say "Some claims require manual processing" - just how many claims have required manual processing this year? No backlog my left foot!

i made no deductions in my tax return, i've got one bank account which made me $0.01 interest! :) I'm still waiting and i lodged my return on the 2nd of july... this is rediculous, an honest answer would be nice

I lodged my return via etax on the 13th of July, it's been two weeks and I have not received anything. I am in severe financial hardship so I went to the tax office to apply for hardship on the 23rd of July...still no return!! Everytime I call they say "There are no errors on your return, but we need to "manually check" it. It's a simple return, no interest on my bank account or anything.

I do have a HECS debt, but I don't see how this can affect my return as I only earnt $18,000 for the year and do not yet have to make payments.

I'm glad I'm not alone though!

Lodged on the 7th,20 days later still nothing ... seems to be a LOT of manual processing going on ... is that "manual processing" just someone sitting there doodling with a pencil ???????????? Load of rubbish ...

My tax return was lodged on the 1st and I contacted the tax office on the 12th and was told my return would be acceleratd due to hardship. It is now the 28th and still no refund. I had one job (under 20 000$ income), 0.99c in interest and a HECS debt that does not have to be paid due to low income status. I have contacted the ATO multiple times and been told on three seperate occasions they would process my return in 48hours.
There were about four items at most they needed to check, this could not take 27 days. They lie. Perhaps we should charge them interest or fines for late payments as they do on tax debt, or perhaps the directors (or in this case the tax commisioner or whatever they are) should face criminal charges of fraud or deliberately misleading the public. Was some relief to find I am not alone until I thought of how bad so many others must of suffered like me. This is something Australian citizens should rise up against. Let Gillard know she should really take care of Australian tax payers if she wishes to get re elected.

I have also spoken to the ATO and was told nothing! I claimed $300 in deductions and have a hecs debt but below threshold. So simple, and its been over 26 days since I lodged. This is a joke, so much for being an 'open and accountable' department.

Lodged mine on the 5th and the automated machine said I lodged mine on the 4th, it's proven that they are one day behind from the reality, and no returns yet.

lodged mine on the 7th july still nothing it seems i am not alone my wife did hers14 got back in a week cant understand it

I lodged my tax return 3 weeks ago - I lodged it the day before my husband. 3 days later (no i am not kidding) he got his return back. Still have not seen mine, all I get is that they are 'manually processing it' and have now told me to wait until the 5th of August. What the hell is manual processing and why bother sending it via etax if it's just going to go to manual processing anyway??
Not happy!

Make a complaint, after 27 days this is the advice I received and it seems like it may be working (fingers crossed). Call the complaint line and make a complaint where your desired outcome is to receive your return asap.

I am also getting the same message: Some returns need to be manually processed. This is a new message, was not on there last week. I believe their system is creating a backlog however they wil not admit it. It would be better for the ATO to admit this rather than try to get around it with fancy talk. I am glad to see I am not the only one waiting for over 2 weeks, however that does not help me to pay the bills! I had a very simple return as well.

Just called the tax office was advidsed tax was completed however refund would not be received until later in August.So with that contacted the local Member of Paraliment (Its election time) was advised that the situation was not good enough and was contacting the ATO on my behalf. My suggestion call you local (Federal) Member of Parliment its amazing how they want to help at this time of year.

lodged it via e tax on the 3rd of july, still no return, f--king joke, never taken this long. put a deposit down on a car expecting it to clear in a few weeks, lost my deposit. useless government.

Been waiting 16 days am in between jobs, new one starts in less than a month, no point to get dole, not sure how I am going to buy food this week??? Waiting on $3000.00 that would tide me over nicely... if I ever get it?

if you people are depending on your tax return just to get buy and live then i suggest have a look at yourselves and get a better job.

that is a bit harsh dean. Good for you if you have never experienced hardship, I certainly hope you are never depending on a payment or in need. Compassion & understanding never hurt anyone. Why should anybody, myself included, have expected the tax returns to be any different to previous years as the ATO did not advise people that could occur?

Jo, i myself expected my tax return at least 2 weeks compare with other years. But I would never ever depend on it. I really wanted it to buy some more USD at a better rate as I am heading to usa on sat. But when people are asking how they will eat or pay bills because thier tax return hasnt arrived then that is ridiculas. And if they are budgeting tax to do so then they need to have a look at themselves.

Dean, Lou is in between jobs and that is a major factor with him doing it hard at the moment.
Maybe you should have budgeted better which would have enabled you to buy more USD at a better rate without "hoping" ,your Tax refund arrives, to do so.

The latest update from the Commissioner of Taxation.
http://www.ato.gov.au/corporate/content.asp?doc=/content/00250471.htm

I am also waiting for my return. I did my husband's on the same day as mine. He's got his notice of assessment but he had a debt. Obviously when they don't have to pay they're quite quick to process it!! That was 3 weeks ago. And all other agencies, like Child Support get your information before you do.
People have a right to expect their returns Dean.

Lodge my return on 7 July, no payment recieved as yet. Contacted ATO through their debt mgt system and was told that my claim had been processed and I was due a refund. That was week ago, still no payment, DOES THE GOVERNMENT HAVE THE MONEY TO PAY????? I wont be voting for this government again.

Lodged mine on 6th - ETAX. nothing received yet. Owed 2K refund. Have HECS but didn't earn enough to repay. Auto-filled 99% of tax return. Spoke to three different people from ATO in Customer Service. All very rude and arupt. Cant even tell me if it has been processed or not. Kept being told to be patient.
Something is seriously wrong and dodgy with the ATO. Perhaps we should replace all of them with all the people on the dole que who i am sure, could do a better job.

E-Tax has huge misleading information on it. E-tax will misguide you to lodge the tax return as a result you will get audited by ATO. E-tax does not provide information and guidance to lodge tax return for Personal Service Business people. Be careful E-tax can’t be trusted. It has got bugs on it. By following E-tax instruction you will have huge financial loss. I have concrete evidence of it but we can’t do anything against ATO because they are the big boss.

My return was lodged on the 4th of july which I do every year,
I have a HECS debt but in past years I have always recieved my return in under the 14 day period stated ever since I started doing ETAX 4 yrs ago.
I am a single parent and recieve both Family Tax Benefit A & B, while this year I under estimated my income and as of last Friday recieved the amended amount which could only be processed by the Tax department analysing my return, why then havent I recieved the rest of my return????
My sister had lodged hers on the 2nd and had the same problems minus the Family Tax and the HECS but she was finally paid out last Friday.
And the past 5 phone calls to the automated help line keep stating the 3rd of August, I am agreeing with everyone else this is utter bulls**t!!!!!!!! Why isnt there more media converage concerning this?? Just because its an election year shouldnt mean the ATO can just sweep this under the rug!!!!
We wouldnt lodge the return ASAP if we werent counting on the money and as for trying for hardship thats a laugh.
Extremely displeased.

I lodged mine on the 16th July and on Monday 19th July I checked my centrelink last finiacial year income and sure enough my last finicial year income details were there. But hmmm? where is my refund. Its been processed but still waiting and waiting. Centrelink even mailed me to say they have adjusted my FTB. So I have recieved my top up payment from centrelink but the ATO said, please be patient. Not to call after 15th August. What a joke, no refund, no noa but its been finalised! the automatic system is stupid too. Lucky i budget my money well and dont rely on it to survive.

Lodged mine on the 10th on etax. Have used it previously, and its taken much much less than the average 14 days (between 3-7). Been 3 weeks now, called up the hotline, entered my TFN. Hotline said somethin bout manual entry as well, and "don't call back until the August 9th". So I'm going to call every f'ing day until it comes in :)

they are all a bunch of liars ive been waiting for 20 days now and i know some people have waited more for there refund my wife recived her refund on the 14 day and she got back alot more then i am so why am i still waiting they can demand money of us and ad on intrest should we charge them intrest and compansation pigs arse you labour bastards

Lets get this to the medias attention & another thing goin wrong for the labour gov...only way to speed things up these days unfortantely...but I feel for all of u...me too have been waiting nearly 21 working days..and nothing and I have no HECS debt just centrelink stuff for my kids...used etax first time last yr and got it within 14 days..main reason why i used it again..cause it was so dam quick...I lost my job & starting a course & was hoping this refund will catch me up on my bills before I start my course..but alas no..I hope telstra can wait..well they got no choice now!!

I am an accountant and tax agent. I can confirm that there is a major problem at the ATO with refunds. I have many clients who have lodged returns in the first week of July and still no refund. These are not clients with HECS debts.

As accountants we aim to give great customer service. It is extremely stressful when we are inundated with calls from clients who have not received their refunds. It is also very time consuming and frustrating when we call the ATO to find out when the client will receive the refund and they cannot tell us.

I was advised yesterday by an ATO staff member that there was a problem. "There is a glitch in the system. Refunds are not being processed automatically. They are being processed manually" I was told. "Please do not call about clients until the refund is more than 28 days overdue" I was also told.

The ATO should issue a public announcement that there is a problem. I have had so many problems this year with the ATO I am considering giving up my practice. The stress caused by their incompetence is taking a toll on me and my staff.

Most of all I feel very sorry for my clients who have been relying on this income in these times of the economic downturn.

May I suggest for all who have been waiting for longer than 28 days and have tried to resolve the issue with the ATO, that you make a complaint to your local member of parliament, as well as lodging a formal complaint with the ombudsman.
http://www.ombudsman.gov.au/pages/making-a-complaint/

Do not be complacent or apathetic. It is disgusting that your own tax-payer money (millions) is being used on IT projects that are not being tested before being put into production for critical national functions like tax refunds. I do not care if it is labor or liberal, it is simply INCOMPETENT and lacking leadership. From the latest update, how dare they use live data to test systems..How can we have confidence that our refunds are actually correct ? "At the end of every financial year, the ATO goes though the process of updating its software, mainly to take account of any changes to the tax laws for the previous year. The new software has to be loaded, tested and verified." This is an admission of incompetence and incorrect IT governance.

I lodged on 5th and still waiting... also receiving all the same run around advice most others getting from the tax office. The bit that makes it worse though is Centrelink won't pay me the family tax top up, apparently the tax office needs to pay it with my return, or tax needs to advise them I don't have a debt raised depending on which centrelink person you talk to. Starting to feel like both departments are colluding with each other to deny money that belongs t me :-(. As I've been a student this entire year (and only received Centrelink as income), it seems bizarre that my return seems harder to process than any of the years I was working (and thus were a lot more detailed), and that they would be able to suggest with any true integrity that there is even potential for a debt to have been raised (particularly in this age of data matching).... NOT IMPRESSED!!!!

I lodged mine 16 days ago and still haven't recieved it. I also did my brother's return the same day and he got his back within 5 days! His situation is almost similar to mine & I can't understand WHY the ATO would process his quicker than mine. I'm a student & textbooks and fees are not cheap. I was actually depending on this money late last week so I could pay for these expenses but now i'll have to wait for an incomptent office to get their s**t in order.

The Government needs to step in here. It's an absolute disgrace!

To me, the principal of this issue here is not whether people are relying too heavily on tax refunds to get them through a hard time, and whether or not they have planned financially very well. That is no one else's business to judge.
The ATO should have advised tax payers that their system is stuffed, and that realisitically, there will be delays in assessing the tax returns and releasing refunds. We are annoyed as we have unmet expectations! And, fair enough when we haven't been officially advised otherwise! They have been disrespectful by not communicating to tax payers about this.
They are causing alot of undue worry and concern among us all for such reasons as not having enough money to get by, being paranoid about being audited, and just having to chase what is supposed to be an entitlement, with daily phonecalls and putting in hardship applications for refunds which should have been released according to their blurbs, already!!!
Far out, we are paying for this service they are supposed to provide. That is called abuse of our taxpayer funds!
Yet again....government service is living up to a typified reputation. No competition, and too much of our money to use and abuse.
Who wants to come and apply for a bludgy job with the ATO!!!!

I too lodged my return on the 12th through etax agent not even them can tell me what is going on they tell me they are waiting on a reply from the ATO which has now been a week i ring the self help line it tells me it is being manually processed and to wait untill the 11 august fairly simple return i am not relying on this return but even if i was it is my money money that with out a delay was taken from me through out the year no delays on that coming out of my pay the fact is like every one i want my return that is owed to me and if i was relying on it so be it its mine to do so i feel it unfair that some people can say others should manage ther money better times are tuff 9 times out of 10 there is not enough money to manage better everyone does the best they can and u must have been a little conceren where your money is to have been on this particular page about refund delays

What a joke! now the automated self-help service isn't even useable. disgusted.

Hi Guys can I request everyone please lodge your frustration by sending your complaint to media Today Tonight of Channel 7 and Current Affairs of Channel 9, I have concrete evidence that E-tax has bugs and because of E-tax error I have huge financial loss.

Well I did mine electronically through an accountant with my hunsband he got his a week ago wheres mine we relly need the money and the ATO say well some have to be manually entered. What a crap program soory but I am sick of them..... As it is electronic it shouldn't be hard to find my return and give me a time I am now told to wait unitl the 19th of Aug.... What a joke

3 Weeks and still waiting ...

It has now been 31 days since I lodged my very simple tax return and to this day I haven't got my return

This is disgraceful.

it will be 2 weeks tomorrow...

I called the 13 number, the service is down...

Not helpful when you have been out of work for 6 months...

Lodged on 6th - Hecs - Under Threshold. Owed Refund 2K... Been waiting. No help from Customer Service - Rude and Dissmissive. Rang Customer Complaints - Very helpful - Lady took me through process(15mins on phone), adv that she would prioritise complaint and will have a case manager look into why i havent received assessment. Did advise that Case Manager may take a couple of days to investigate but ensured that it will be done this week.
**Dont wait for ATO** - They are imcompetant and if you have been waiting for than 3 weeks, i suggest give complaints a call and get them to escalate!!!

I contacted the Sun Newspaper by email, a reporter rang me today and asked alot of questions regarding e-tax. We still don't have ours, I rang the ATO on the weekend, I might as well have been speaking to the wall. We have not recieved our FTB as they have to be notified by the tax dept first, what a joke.

Lodged mine on the first July. etax. I've been paying extra tax all year to force myself to save for a holiday at the end of August. After 20 days or so I rang the automated number and was told call back after July 30. Called today August 2, and was told call back in another 10 days. I have HECS and an ABN but everything is in order. A freind recieved his notice last week with: income $0, tax paid $0, tax owing $0. What the hell is going wrong here? Always been a Labor voter, but am beginning to believe the Libs mantra that Labor can't run anything.
Very annoyed.

I put in my tax refund through electronicallywith my agent on the 19 th. Today I applied for financial hardship and the lady on the phone said that the case is escalated. After reading all this here I believe that didn't help. I was also told that there is no manual process required for my tax return but it is not released for some reason.

Could someone please tell me what's this story about people being entitled to interests if they take more than 30 days to issue your refund? What's the daily interest rate you are supposed to get and what if they don't give it to you? who do you complain to?

33 days and still counting and am sick and tired of being given lies when you call !!! and 100 different stories

I lodged a very simple tax return via etax on the 10th of july it is now 3rd of August ! 24 days !

Simple tax return via Etax and still nothing, Now the past 3 years I havnt counted on my tax returns but this year I thought hey past 3 years got it back in 5 days now the 1 time you try to count on it, nothing. lol the irony.

I'm off to work, need the money now.

It has been a month and nothing, I called and like many comments above the phone staff were rude and could not wait to get you off the phone. I called the automatic hotline and it was not working. It is a little ridiculous now.

The ATO do give you interest if your tax refund takes more than 30 days to go through, i called them today and asked them, as I lodged my return on the 3rd July, and now it has been one month. I do have HECS debt, the ato guy said some of those returns are being processed manually.

the interest rate is apparently 4.6% pa which is about 17 cents a day for my refund.

I agree, I wouldn't be so cross if i'd have expected it to take 30 days or more - but nobody told me it would, they said etax would take 14 days.

So i will just keep waiting, I think I will invest my 17 cents when i finally get my return

Please people send your stories to journalists, newspapers, today tonight, a current affair, etc.. The ATOs lies are criminal and this issue illustrates how incompetent the labour government are... And I'm generally a labour voter, but may swing to liberal this election as the lies are simply not acceptable AND SHOULD BE EXPOSED BY DECENT JOURNALISTS BEFORE THE ELECTION!

My refund has so far taken over 25 days and counting, very simple and I've never had any issues, before now..always got it within 14 days... The worst part of all this is the unanswered questions and the LIES!!

Iam so over this! I’m just sick of the waiting, and waiting, I HATE looking at my account each day to see if my tax has gone in. I did mine with etax, 12 July, bad time; many people apparently did their etax on the 12 July. I don’t owe any hecs, I do have education supplement, but not due as I’m low income, I am currently a student. I would like this money to help with my textbooks, but this week I will have to use my pay. No money left. I just want this sorted; the stress is too much, I wasn’t counting, on my tax, but it normally just helps out a little. My son even asks each day, got your tax yet, family members...and so on. I DON’T WANT TO HEAR ANYMORE ABOUT TAX REFUND!!!! Why...cause it’s been too long.

Yep 12th of July looks like the day they lost our etax returns, did my wife’s, mine, daughters, sons on same day and we are all yet to see any refunds that this incompetent government department can not get it's act together and what ever happened to their customer service charter. What a joke, Gillard why won't you come out and say something about one of your government departments. You have lost 3 votes in my family. Email every tv station and radio station you know off to expose this governement for how useless they really are.

Lodged on 9th July by my accountant, simple straight forward return for 2K just like every other year. Phoned this morning to be hung up on twice by automated system. Phoned and spoke to a human this afternoon who didnt even seem to know which day it was and told me that my status says "suspended" WTF!! I have to phone after 30 days to check again - LIES LIES LIES. Something needs to be done.

Nic, Same thing happened to me, Automated service just did not work, when I got through to someone they were RUDE and dismissive. She said I would have to call back after 30 days, which tomorrow is the 30th day and that my refund had not yet been processed because it was suspended and needed "manual intervention" I asked why, it is just over $3k, what I get back every year and she said "I am not authorised to give out that information"... I said can you please put me through to someone that is authorised, I was placed on hold and the call conveniently just hung up.

i called the ATo back last night to get a really nice lady on the other end she actually came out and told me that their computers have a glitch and thats why they are now saying to gve it 30 days atleast she admitted it and was very helpfull compared to some that have answered my calls it has been 22 days still nothing i have given up its just frustrating me more and more know im owed it and they dont want to hand it over no amount of yelling and screaming is getting me anywhere automated service seems to tell everyone the same thing no matter what status your refund is in could be in your bank and still sayin needs manuall processing ha ha i even put a complaint into the ATO that said it takes 3 days for some one to contact you this is the second day and no one has called im sure they have millions i feel like we are all being treated like MUSHROOMS BEING KEPT IN THE DARK AND FED BULLS@#T

Lodged 4th July, Wiated 14 days and now i am calling daily. Prehaps the reason is that its an election month and we will receive all payments on the day before election day. Dont trust the pimple faced ATO staff member who just pushes buttons to pass time. Gillard you need the sack

My refund is delayed without a doubt. I should have received mine by now too. Those who voted for this Government, thanks very much, hope you'll remember your pain when you vote this month and try and make a difference. Those who didn't vote for this government, thanks very much, it won't be difficult to vote that way again!

Can people please email below and express their concerns. The more people the better. The ATO is unlawful someone needs to be accountable:
The Hon Julia Gillard MP
Deputy Prime Minister
Minister for Employment and Workplace Relations, Minister for Education, Minister for Social Inclusion, Federal Member for Lalor
Email: julia.gillard@aph.gov.au

Electorate office: Shop 2, 36 Synnot Street, Werribee, VIC 3030
Postal: Locked Bag 14, Werribee, VIC 3030
Tel: (03) 9742 5800
Fax: (03) 9741 6213

Federal office: PO Box 6022, House of Representatives, Parliament House, Canberra, ACT 2600
Tel: (02) 6277 7320
Fax: (02) 6273 4115

Still waiting here...lodge the 12th july & still nuthin...geeze if it was the other way round the ATO would not accept our excuse of theres a glitch with my computer and cannot pay..they would be right up my ass wanting the money..but when its the other way round..please wait it should be there any day and expect us to just be patient..Time for us to stand up!!

Another July 12 etax lodgement and no refund. So much for the 14 days.

I loged mine with e tax on the 16th, I called this morning and they said it takes 30 days, I said why does it say 14 on line and the lady I spoke with said "no, it doesn't, it clearly says 30"... I must not be able to read.

What an utter shambles!

Forgetting my personal circumstances which clearly show a refund credited to my account on 2nd August (via the Business Portal) as yet NOT received,.

It is the utter dishonesty I find so appalling,. The website still shows a processing time of 14 days for etax lodgment.

At least acknowledge there is a mistake and notify the public!

I’m the 12th July person. Rang ato, as I do most days, this time I did talk to a person. Rude person, but still a PERSON. Told I have to wait 30 days, I replied, "30 days will be next Wednesday so I should have it by then", the reply I got "yeh, should have" that was it. What so,... I might have to wait over the 30 days now!!! OMG, WAITING, THIS IS VERY SAD, the Aus government, needs a SHAKE-UP, IF you ask me!! Why has this not been advertised!!! News papers and such?

Im guessing its the govs dirty little secret while the election is on..afterall wasnt it them who implemented the new computer system that is causing all these delays??

And that is why I am not gonna even try to ring before the 11th aug..for that person u got..mind u after them, if they talk to me like that I will be returning it, getting their name and filing complaints

I had my tax prepared on the 13 July 2010 by H&R Block. I have been advised by them that my tax has been "re-reference dated" by the ATO for 6 August. I could not be given an explanation as to what that means, other than the ATO acknowledge I am owed a refund, and best to forget about it as it will turn up in due time when I least expect it.
The ATO website today as usual says there is no problem and to expect no delay.

Lodged mine using e-tax about 4 weeks ago - a pretty basic return, but still no refund.

I haven't bothered to inquire yet, and I would have thought that if they had some issue with my return I would have heard by now.

An absolute crock of sh*t that they are not coming clean about the system problems.

The thing is that they can't hide - people aren't stupid.

I WON'T BE VOTING LABOR THIS TIME - SO STICK THAT UP YA JUMPER GILLARD & CO.!!!!

Three weeks and counting.

I lodged it with etax on the16th july, something is not right cause it always comes back on time.

They are having issues, but they haven't figured it out yet!

Mean while money is getting very tight.

Dear Diary. I called the ATO again today. I lodged my application 5th July. I have been calling them 14 days straight now and will continue to do until they pay me $2623.05... the lady told me is should receive it tomorrow as its the 30th day. I told the lady that i will call tomorrow as im sure there wont be any cash in my account, Her reply was " dont be like that, you mah\ke us look bad", OMG .. ATO u suck.

PS. log on tomorrow for my Dear Diary update. will let you all know if i did get it.

Lodged my tax return near midnight on the 30th of june, is now the 4th of august and still have nothing. I called after 14 days and was told to call back on the 21st, called back on the 21st and was then told to call back on the 28th, called back on the 28th and was told it may take up to 30 days, called after 30 days and was told it should be in my account by the 2nd of august, called on the second of august and was told it was 'probably' going into my account that day, called the next day and was told that it still had not been processed and that it should be in within the next 14 days, asked to be transferred through to complaints and was abruptly hung up on. Absolutely disgusting ATO. i am currently overseas and have been relying on this money to get home, I purposely paid more tax throughout the year so I would get a big refund when I need it, will never be making that mistake again!

Just wanted to add my name to the list. Lodged through etax on the 6th July, and still received nothing. Has today tonight or a current affair ran a story on this yet. It was a joke. That was 2 weeks ago. If it's not here in the next couple of days, I'll want blood.

Doesn't matter who you vote for the govenrment allways gets in.

i want to be an etax agent for submit my custmor better service for there tax return .how can i join with it

How funny, for the past 3 years I have completed E-tax online, it's been so convenient and prompt, within 5 days you would receive your funds. It's been 20 days now and apparently mine needs to be manually entered. I also spoke to someone i know from the ATO and he informed me that some simple returns will take 9 weeks to process. I for one was expecting around $3000 back but have accepted my fate, why fix a system that worked so well. So guys either start emailing people with power or just accept that your returns will come late august early September.

Im with the others!!! Absolute lies!!!!! Talk about a cover up to save his job...
Its been a month now, waiting on over 5g's ... I wonder if when there is a debt owed people can call the tax office and say "payment is being processed and should be in your account soon" then chill for another month.

I think not.

Thanks KRudd And Julia.

This is a bit ridiculous eh? If they tell me I have to redo it I will claim a lot more. I only did minor deductions this year as I wanted a quick refund, but I could claim at LEAST a couple of thousand more if they want to screw around like this. What's the hold up? Has there been any official word in the past fortnight?

There has been no word...i thinks maybe we should get on the streets and protest..hold up peak hr traffic...seems to be the only way the media is gonna telecast any probs with the ATO...like I said before..right now the ATO is the governments dirty little secret!!

Hmm I also wonder...do the staff at the ATO have any probs with their tax returns?? I have not seen one ATO staff member post on any forums that they too have to wait...

Has anyone checked the ATO infobot today...has your message changed overnight to NOA issued 5th will pay within 14 days....14 days, have already waited 30...I'm with Steven & Concerned...contact your local member or Julia Gillard...they need our votes at the moment as all the polls are saying they are well behind they eight ball with voters this year....they need us Tax Payers on there side do they not....POWER TO THE PEOPLE!!!

I lodged my partners tax return 7th July via etax... still waiting for it to be put in his account... and because of this i havent received my family tax supplement payments from centrelink. While others i know have lodged and received their's within 2 weeks, keep calling the info line but get the same message to wait till after the 6th august to ring back... NOT BLOODY HAPPY!!!

I put my in on the 16th July via the accountant still not back 3 weeks now!

My housemate used the same accountant on the 12th and it come on the 20th, 8 days it took.

I efiled my tax return on 5 July 2010. I called the progress line and it said wait until 26 July before enquiring again. Then it changed until the 4 August saying that it may require manual processing. Overnight the progress line recording has changed now saying that "your assessment will be issued shortly. If you don't receive it within 10 days then call back then". Im guessing that I will receive it within 10 days, well im hoping.

Hhhmmmmmm I submitted my tax via etax on the 10th july. Just a straight forward return. Still waiting. I was counting on that money to pay for laptops which the school my girls attend are introducing. They now have to wait while all other kids are in class using theirs. Extremely unhfair on my kids and something they shouldnt have to go through. I was thinking because the government have our money for an extra period of time does that mean we get any interest earned on it???? Yeah right as if.

Lodged 15th July. Relying on return within 14 days to pay rent. Applied for hardship, told i need an eviction notice to support such a hardship claim. ATO phone operators claim nothing can be done until 30 days has elapsed.

CRAP ATO!

Lodged on 6thJuly 2010, lodged complaint on 2nd August , got a callback from Case Manager today advising me that has been processed and release date is 10th August 2010. There is some hope! Hopefully, will be there Tuesday.
For anyone who has been waiting more than 3 weeks, contact complaints. They will assign a case manager to look into your affairs and they will give you an outcome and/or result within 3 working days.
** FYI - Any tax refunded after 30 days attracts interest - See website **

We lodged my partners tax thru etax on 18th july. We have called and asked wot is happening as all his workmates that lodged after him have been paid. We were told it was "stuck" in the system and it was escalated. we were told that it will get done in 48hrs!!! We knew that was wrong. So we are just waiting waiting waiting. It sucks because no family assistance supps til his tax is done.

lodged on 23rd of July, it will be 14 days tomorrow. nothing happened. claimed simple car expenses and work related expenses as last year. i need to know what is going on with the ATO. i do not need 2.7K$ right now, but wish to spend it asap.

wheres my refund
lodged on 13th july

Dean, not all of us are getting paid immense sums of money at our jobs, which I assume you are? Most people are living from week to week, think before you utter stupid comments which offend hard working people!

Lodged my return on the 7th, still no sign of it. Called after 14 days, the lady said "I'll put you on hold" then she hung up on me. I called back and spoke to a man who said I should have it within the week. A week passes, no return.

What I find infuriating is the lack of accountability by the ATO - it's clear there is an issue, just be upfront about it! I would rather they told me why the hell it's taking so long and give me a realistic time period as to when I will expect the funds.

Dean works for ATO perhaps.

It's not that we need it to get by, we need it to go out and buy.

I submitted mine on July 6th by Etax. In previous years I had no problems like this. I have submitted a complaint to the ATO now. I think we all should receive compensation of some sort. If I don't pay my bills on time I get either bad credit and or fined, why should the ATO be any different? I am requesting 20% added to my refund for my administration time spent following this up.

I went through this back in December - January, being consoled by the promise "how fast future returns would be processed" HAHAHA
After lodging on 8th July, I enquired last week to be told I would get it "eventually". Then after wasting my time lodging a complaint on the 27th I received advice my complaint would be resolved by the 16th of August - in hindsight I should of confirmed that was August 2010 or 2011.
Through all this,I think I have spent the equivelant amount of my return ringing the self help line... come to think of it, the recording does sound remarkably like Julia Gillard, good to know she will have a job after the election!

ignore stupid sh-i-t from dean who works for honourable ato.
still waiting for refund or noa, but havn't heard anything from ato. iam wondering if ato delays refund and give us 4% per annum interest but who owes money to credit card and pay 16~20% interest. is ato going to compensate this?

Still waiting lodged on the 12th July, but no tax. I am so over this waiting. Now I hate to check my account, as the money is never in my account. Well Wednesday will be 30 days, one month, and still counting, counting, counting. ATO PULL YOUR FINGER OUT!!!!!! Some people need this little help me out. but this is f##ked.

I BELIEVE THEY WILL HAVE TO GIVE INTEREST TO TAXPAYERS FOR THE LATE PAYMENTS..I AM DISGUSTED AT ATO ..THEY LIE TO US OPENLY ,YOU CAN APPLY FOR HARDSHIP AND STILL NOT QUICKER..TO TAKE OUR MONEY FROM OUR PAY,THEY BLOODY GOOD,HA THERE IS NO PROBLEMS OF COMPUTEUR OR SYSTEM..BUT WHEN TIME COMME TO GIVE IT BACK, THEN YOU GOT THE OLD TRICK OF IT PROBLEMS..ALWAYS THE COMPUTEUR FAULT,..DONT TELL ME THAT YOU DIDNT HAD TIME TO MAKE SURE THE SYSTEM WORKED BEFORE STARTING THE RETURNS...YOU SO A BUNCH OF LOSERS ATO,AND MAKE US ALL FEEL LIKE THIRD GRADE TAXPAYERS..

is there anything we can do? i dont know,contact the news papers,tv? no serious,what the hell is going on???

I like the hundred people here that have made comments, I too am waiting on my "simple" tax refund.

I have been unemployed since November last year, am a single parent (father), I used the same accountant as my family has used for the last 30 years as I do every year.

Every year since I can remember have lodged the same date in july, knowing full well that I usually receive my refund by the end of the following week. It's usually on time, the same date i lodge within 7 working days it is in my account.

I am entering the 4th business week since lodging. i know that the money has been "deposited" into a holding account (got my accountant to check into it yesterday)

I knew there was a catch when KRudd was handing out $$$$$$ during this last financial year!

i bet, that everyone who DIDN'T receive a "bonus" from him has had their tax refund deposited within the 14days, while those who did receive are getting royally shafted

well,no comment 104..i didnt received that stupid bonus,but still waiting more than twice now the 14 days timeframe..nothing to do with Rudd political stimulus,its just ATO and their fooking system..As every government departments, it is aimed to make suffer all those that rely on it. look at centrelink,workers comp,docs,csa and those i forgot, do you think they give a dam of who we are? we are just a number,not a human person that has needs..they dont care..and guess what,you vote for those that are responsible for australians getting on their knees every year..dont you see the ammount of families outside sleeping in their car,kids out of control and smoking pot all day..maybe in australia,we should stop the beer that stop us to revolt and get down in town to express our need to a real change,the one that not profit to the riches only, but the poors as well..we are too complacent about their mistakes and constant politic of scare..sitting down in our chairs and saying tomorow will be another day will never change australia..look overseas,and see what we all missing on.

So I haven't been waiting as long as some of you. I lodged a bit over two weeks ago through my accountant, thinking like usual i'd get it within two weeks. Ha. Apparently not. Just called them today after getting concerned and finding this page, and they've advised that because of the delays with the new system - (glitches) that I should expect it in a month instead. So broke, I was really relying on that sweet cash back. But will have to wait a bit longer. It's so true though, If we were to screw around with the ato, we would be fined and expected to pay up straight away, but when it comes to hard working tax payers, they just don't care. Really not too bright with an election coming up. What i can understand is - why mess with a system that worked? Another big waste of our money.

Refund lodged 6th july, one month ago today..........ho hum, rang the automated line AGAIN. This time, surely it has to be processed by now?......To my amazement i have been put on an escalation list, and i got to speak to a human who now says i should get it back within 14 days......... good on ya ATO,your great.

got a call back from the complaints department at ATO after lodging 2 complaints via internet the guy was nice but still not giving me much faith in getting return any fast 26 days today still waiting whats worse is i paid someone to do my tax and even them seem to be shrugging me off im sure they will be holding theor hands out for their cash when the return does come in i also owe the ATO money from a mistake made last year and i am getting letter after letter from them to pay that debt no backing off from them in that situation im over it

Lodged mine on the 7th of July, always do it as early as possible, never have a problem, usually back within a week. When I hadn't received it by the 14 days I rang the automated line, it told me to wait until the 6th of August to call back. So I did, and I called back today - stated that my assessment has been issued and that if I do not receive it or the refund within 14 days to call the ATO back. Convenient that they have magically now completed in 1 day before I would have been required to get interest! Ah well, here's to waiting for another 14 days because I am pretty sure the money won't be in. Just frustrates me that when you owe any govt dept money, they need it like they are relying on your money to run the bloody country, but when they owe you money it's like they can take as long as they like.

I was so naive to believe that I could have my money back within 14 days from the lodgment date as usual. Today is 14th day from the lodgment. Should I have money today?

Lodged the 1st July!!! STILL WAITING!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

I think we need to RISE TOGETHER AS ONE PEOPLE, and let the fat cats know we aint happy jan.... Put a complaint in on the ato website, and VENT YOUR DISGUST PEOPLE

Done my tax on the 2nd of July via e tax....6th of ausgust and still nothing, apparently there getting monkeys to manually enter data these days

Lodged 10 July and still waiting.
4 % intrest after 30 days, i could have it sitting in a savings account earning more interest right NOW...

I lodged my return on the night of the 30th of June and after 5.25 weeks am yet to receive my refund. I have spoken to the ATO 5 times and every single time been told that it is almost finished processing...If I had a dollar for every time I have logged into internet banking in the faint hope that my return will have appeared I probably wouldn't need a return anymore...So so frustrating!!!

I have an accountant who lodged my return on 7th July as their sign at the front of their business states "fast tax returns" I have continually rang and called in and get told that there is a glitch in the system.
I normally do my tax on line but decided to go to an agent for more convenience-hum!!! bad decision.
Does anyone know the number for me to ring to actually SPEAK to someone not an automated message
thanks

Q How long and difficult of an exercise is it to process ONE group certificate with no RECIEPTS for the ATO? Q.How many monkeys does it take to change a light bulb?......Answer, my accountant estimated my refund in 4 minutes, the ATO, 4 weeks an counting, and don't ask them to change a light bulb unless you got time on your hands - OUR ATO, BIG QUESTIONS- NO ANSWERS.

Ruth - Phone 13 28 61

I did my tax through H&R block... it has been 2 weeks today, nothing yet.

My fault for spending every last cent!

oh my, I keep thinking i will get mine next week as that is 30 days, but now i still worry...I might not get it next week in even the 30 days, after first waiting 14 days. All i can say, is please let this end and give me MY TAX REFUND NOW!!! Sick of waiting, this suck, big time, will this ever end, will I ever get my tax refund, oh well many days have passed, no refund. Feels like a dream, should be happy if you got your tax back, as some are still waiting a month after.

I have been waiting 26 days and have rang the automated service everyday, and everyday it was saying its being manually processed and don't call again until after the 10th of August, and today I called and it tells me it has been issued and if i don't receive a refund within 14 days to call back, so feeling a little more hopeful but wont hold my breath :/

Logded mine on 1-july-2010,havent received a single cent yet .Also very simple tax return with no HECS or Help.Everytime i ring, every customer service person tell me different story.Yesterday they said it will be in your account in 2 days.today they said that its still pending and furthur processing required.Completely rubbish information from ATO.All excuses but no proper reply.looks like there own staff dont know what to do or to say.Very disaapointed..:(

4 weeks and counting.

Has the makings of a Current Affairs story.

Hey, great news people. As i have mentioned in previous comments, the ATO really sh t me, just got off the phone from miss automation recording thing, and lo n behold they have processed my refund after a month of waiting. I have just got to wait another possible TEN DAYS b4 it goes in my bank account.Thanks ATO, your awesome.

It's here, it's here!

Lodged on the 16th Jul arrived 6th Aug. three full weeks. 1 week late.

I think they are just a bit busy at ATO, lets hope they sort it out for next year, although I wont set my watch by the ATO any longer.

Good luck people, cheers Ian

Lodged my etax on the 6th July, today 6th August still no refund, rang and spoke to a very nice lady who told me could still be another 4 weeks. SHAME ATO SHAME!!!!

That's great news Ian,

I lodged my tax return on the 15th, couldn't bring myself to ring my bank and check account as I have been doing it since Wednesday last week.

Heres hoping that the Tax Office has finally "green-lighted" the deposit command attached to my awaiting deposit.

Lodged mine on the 15th as well, and received it back THIS MORNING!!! Commonwealth Netbank was down for maintenance and when it came back online, my tax was in!! Much happier now, I'm getting married next month so although I don't rely on tax returns to survive, it will make that day (and the 4 week break afterwards) much better.

3 weeks and 2 days all up.

What's with the manual processing??? Did tax on-line (due to it stating on ATO Website, this is the quickest way) now still waiting... Lodged return on 11th July... Thank god for the up coming election. Does the Current Government realise that No We Are NOT money hungry Aussies... We just need to get whats rightfully our money... We don't take our sweet ass time providing them our money on weekly basis out of our wage so, why should we have to tolerate been part of a waiting game? All i can say is: SHAME ON YOU ATO / GOVERNMENT!!!!
I'm not a happy camper. Placed a deposit on my car & too have lost it! Assuming 3 weeks would be MAX time awaiting refund.
Oh, by the way I am one too whom is told MANUAL PROCESSING is a posibility. I'm so angry... At the moment, wouldnt even PISS on the GOVERNMENT if they were on FIRE!

SHAME SHAME SHAME

Lodged the 1st July! I was waiting and coincidentally yes I'm still waiting!
38 days today!
Escalated on the 2nd August with zip information for time period expected!
Complaint made! That was helpful!
Haven't heard from anybody!

I lodged my tax 12th July recieved refund 20th and Noa but income not on centrelink and still no supps

Glad to hear I'm not the only one with ATO problems :) Lodged my tax return via phone as per usual on the 13th July. In previous years I have only waited a week for my return however on this 7th day of August I am still waiting.
Called the self help line- and the system gave me the "while most tax refunds lodged electronically will be issued within 14 days, some require manual processing and may take longer. Please call back after the 13th of August.." ...
Called for the umpteenth time on one of their different phone numbers in hopes of speaking to a human, but it was quite apparent by their phone menu that no humans were willing to take such enquiry calls... Figured I'd play "dirty" and selected the option for discussing NOA'S and what do you know, their staff are happy to talk about that... The man I spoke to sounded like yet another outsorced employee from some foreign country (well probably anyway) was very rude, and did not seem to like my sneaky way of speaking to the tax department... All he could say is "30 days,30 days"... "well," I asked, "can you please at least tell me if my return is being processed or what stage it's at?" ... His response "probably"
what is going on here???

OOH GOODY! I called the famous ATO AUTOBOT woman just then and she advised me in her lovely robotic voice "Your assesment was issued on the 6th of July"
Here's hoping that cash is in my bank on Monday, but I wont hold my breath..
Meanwhile, I have a nice little fine in my purse for failing to vote, with a due date of 16th of July. I bet if I paid THAT late, there'd be penalties... Too bad I cant send the ATO a nice little fine for taking yonkels about my tax return. Hmph. Who can be bothered voting anyway? They are all just as bad as each other.

CORRECTION... Issued 6th of August. My oopsie

My assessment was issued on 6 August. My refund was in my banks this morning....

Hope you guys rn't waiting much longer...

Etax since 5th July, Over it, The autowoman told me call Monday. Even she has attitude. Over it ATO... u suk

I submitted the tax return 18 days ago and no retrun as yet. Very dissapointing

I am so glad im not alone! i lodged my tax via etax on 16th July. was told it would be 14 days and its now 8th august and still nothing. I constantly check my account for the refund and still nothing. I was hoping to use my refund on my uni books and to pay off some bills as i am studying full-time recently. I called ATO and keep getting the automated message that to call back after 15th august! not happy. been 3 weeks and 2 days! :( i am starting to think we should all have a protest in the city and demand to see our money!

I also lodged on the 16th July and I have not seen my refund. I was depending on it for so many things and now Im in financial hardship. They said I need to wait for another 7 days to get an answer with my refund and with a financial hardship claim it also can take up to 7 days. Great option I have hey?!? LOL So no point in claiming financial hardship, now I have to wait again! Ridiculous

Lodged via etax its been over 30days. what the **** is the ato doing and why do they keep talking **** instead of telling us whats going on. The ato are **** and wont admit they have ****** up that makes it worse. So ****** of right now.

This is appauling! I lodged my return via e-Tax on the 8th of August as I always do each year. Was advised that I'd get the refund back within 14 days. Tomorrow will be a month! The Transformers autobot lady says I shouldn't call back until the end of today. With some luck I should get the green light by the ATO later today and have my cash by Wednesday morning but consider what people are going throug...maybe not!!!

I lodged my return on 16 July 2010. Notice of Assesment issued on 6 August 2010. I got my cash on Sunday 8th August 2010 morning. Hope you guys aren't waiting too long as my wait has been long and painful. I'm glad I finally got back the money I was owed. It's really just not good enough.

I lodged my tax return on the 12th July via E-tax and still no refund in my account. Even knowing I had a debt with child support which they received from the ATO on Tuesday the 3rd August. I can not understand if they can release my debt to child support a week ago then why is it taking so long for them to release the rest of my refund. ATO are liars & they are having issues with the new computer system because it has never ever taken this long for me to get my refund even with a child support debt last year I had.

I'm an overweight person with health issues so I was heavily waiting on my ato tax refund to have my surgery. I lodged my return on the 2nd of August and still nothing today. I am dying and really need the cash. I contacted the ATO several times and even applied for a hardship claim but still nothing. I have bad heart issues due to my weight so I may not be around to post a response by the time I get my return! Goodbye all.

I've been waiting over a month so far for my tax return! I lodged via e-tax on the 3rd of July. I have no HECS or HELP debt left, and I am not on Centrelink. This is just not good enough! To make matters worse I was made redundant two months ago, as my company couldn't afford to keep me. I've not been able to find work since and have received NO help from the government...oh, except they did take almost HALF of my severance package in tax. Now that is almost gone and I was relying on my return to get me through till I find work.

Perhaps I shouldn't be relying on my government in the future.

Well maybe you guys should have saved some cash for a rainy day instead of being totally reliant on the ATO for cash returns! But I do agree that this is crazy!!

Computer test delays tax refunds MELISSA SINGER CONSUMER AFFAIRS
August 7, 2010
THE Tax Office delayed the processing of returns for nine days last month while it ''tested'' its new computer system, holding up some refunds for a month.

And some taxpayers have had an agonising wait for their refunds as another batch of returns with HECS or Centrelink benefits was held out of the system until July 23.

The problems have delayed some refunds for more than 35 days, three weeks longer than the Tax Office's service stanAngry taxpayers have flooded online forums to vent their anger. One user, Piker, said they had waited 35 days and were yet to receive their funds. Others who lodged their returns on or about July 1 were yet to receive either their assessments or any money into their accounts.

A second commissioner at the Tax Office, David Butler, said there was not officially a backlog of returns and the delays were a normal part of annual technical upgrades to account for changes in tax rates or rules.

''We're pretty happy where we're at,'' he said. ''This is the first tax time that's going through the new system. Sometimes it won't go perfectly well and we take that very seriously.''

Mr Butler said he was confident 800,000 returns would be received early next week. This was on top of the 1 million refunds issued before this week.

''Some of the [online] noise has been coming from those people who [lodged returns] in the second week of July and we're confident those will be out by [this morning].''

But the online chatter has not been good news for the Tax Office, which was dogged with complaints about its new system, which malfunctioned after it was installed in January, resulting in long delays and non-payment of refunds. The Tax Office received more than 11,000 such complaints from September to June.

i am too waiting for our tax return we lodged ours with our tax accountant on the 16th july and we told by the automative response not to call back until after the 15th so i guess its just a waiting game now.

decided to use etax this year.. lodged 15th july. still waiting 9th august, most of my friends who lodged their returns after me already recieved theirs.. the irony of it all but one must
be patient and stay strong .
money to live or live for the money?

I lodged on 1st July, told to wait for 30 days, rang back they said they escalated it, told to wait another 14... WHAT IS GOING ON?

so i rang centrelink today too see how long until I'd be recieving ftb supps and ato havent even sent info to them,maybe another week or more,I've had enough

Day 35. No refund... called ATO (call 25)(i call daily) last week thay said it will take upto 28 days and today was told it would atke 14 days , guarantee. I dont beleive a word of it, more lies from staff. My prediction from the start was that they are withholding payments in the fear that releasing large volumes of money into the economy in such a short period of time would result into an interest rate hike. And thats a negative during election time. I assume that now the Reserve Bank has not lifted the rates they will start processing the claims. I feel sorry for students and pensioners (low income) who rely on these payments to feed, clothe and get some dignity back. ATO shame. You will be caught by the taxation ombudsman and heads will roll.

I'm an individual and lodged mine through etax on the 9th of July, still no refund and I also have HELP and FSS. Every time I have called the ATO I've been told a different story, first it was 'processing fine, your NOA has been generated' (7th of Aug). Now they are telling me it needs further manual processing and could take a further 14 days. There is nothing complicated in my return and I can't believe in the year 2010 that the quality of communication from a government agency could be so poor. If any small business operated like this they would be bankrupt by the end of the week. It's just not good enough, I urge anyone affected to make a complaint on the ATO website like I just have.

Ok, as an update on my previous post, the autobot told me on Friday that my notice of assessment has been issued. Still no refund in the bank, yet my mother recieved hers this morning... I lodged mine on eth 13th- she lodged hers on the 26th. Both done by phone. Both assessments issued Friday... WTF is going on here? My car is in desperate need of expensive repairs and I really , really need that money!

So after 31 days, I decided to call the automated robot wowen for an update and was told that my application requires manual processing and insisted that I get transferred to a^n service rep. Got this nice young (temp contractor no doubt) girl called Tamika. I told her that it's been over a month and still no cash. She immediately put me on hold and advised that she would escalate it for urgent and prioritized manual processing and that I'm guaranteed a return in 14 days. When asked why some of my friend have been getting their cash recently when they lodged it weeks after me...she shared with me that it's the luck of the draw and that it affects people randomly. I've lodged a formal complaint to the ATO. So if after waiting endlessly and the system asks you to talk to a service rep - do it as if you don't it may be left on limbo until who knows when. It gives me some comfort knowing that at least it's now been ascalated to the next level. Good luck!!

How can I get through to a person at the tax office?????? Don't want to speak to a robot.. can anyone help? My brother did his the same day as me and he got his back last friday... WHAT THE????

Responding to Megan: there's two ways you can talk to a real person. 1) if your tax return requires further information or manual processing then just hold and it will transfer you to one, 2) you call the technical ATO helpline that only deals with debts and notices of assessment and then get them to transfer you to the servicing team. Note that you want to speak to the servicing team as other departments won't be able to "push" your tax return further.

Thanks Ken.. My mate told me, who is an accountant that it was processed on the 5th of August.. Why wouldnt it be in my bank than??? GRRRR....

Checked my account today and still no refund grrrrrrr...ATO sucks and they lie to you on the phone. I have not called that autobot woman as it alwats says that to call back after August 11th. If it is not in tomorrow I will be calling first thing and they are going to get a serving from me thats for sure.
This is ridiculous they can pay child support the debt out of my refund a week ago today but one week later they still can not release the rest of my refund ? its never ever taken this long in previous refund returns so why now ? ATO are liars and the new system they are using is causing many of us who are waiting undue stress.

a history of my encounter with incompetence:
Lodged return on 7th July, received on 8th, now going on 33 days. i have lodged a complaint at the ato, and the federal ombudsman. I now have a complaint manager and have been told that my return is being reviewed. WTF!!! after 33 days its now getting reviewed after it has been processed. I contacetd my accountant who told me around a week ago it had been processed and was in credit but the ato refuse to release my money, this is criminal. If we owed them money wed be in court by now!!! I for the life of me cannot understand how this has stayed under the radar of the major media outlets in the lead up to an election

Humph! Still no $ since the 5th of July.

I was informed by the tax agent the first client to receive their refund only had to wait .......................48 days youve got to be kidding the good to come outta this he gets a whole 2-4 % interest, worth the wait I think not.

Hi All,

i too have been waiting 3 weeks for my refund. my question is though, did anyone receive a letter from ATO stating that there is a delay and it could take a minimum of 12weeks bc my return will need be reviewed as it has been identified as containing information they want to further investigate ????? does this mean i am being audited? i have used ETAX a number of yrs and never have i received such a letter.

Starship enterprise- Captains log lodgement date 6-7-2010 Captain kirk, yes doctor spock. There doesn't appear to be any intelligent life forms in THE AUSTRALIAN TAX OFFICE, we have been orbiting the ATO now for 5 WEEKS and still no return.....How is this possible in an election year?..... Give me warp factor ten scotty

To poster 163...that's right you are being audited. If you've put down a dodgy claim like claiming for dumb amounts of education expenses when you have not paid anything and expecting to get back $5k or something dumb like that then your arse is toasted. It is a criminal offense to make faults claims and they can audit you for the past 5 years. I'd get a passport and leave if I were you.

@ 165 my claim is legit. i have documents and reciepts to prove this. the thing is that i know a few other ppl have received the same letter. Also this is my 1st yr claiming an investment property which i purchased last yr so i had a few claims to make Eg: paint job, a heating/cooling system, blinds which i have all reciepts for. Maybe this triggered a further investigation??????? however what i find most interesting is why the others have been sent the same letter as me???

My fiance and I lodged our returns by ETax on July 15th! My partner received his last week but nothing yet for me! Funny thing is.. Centrelink has my income details from the ATO but has not received my fiance's income details from the ATO??? Maybe I am too simple minded about it but I would have thought they would have to pass his info to Centrelink BEFORE issuing his return?? And if they have my info from the ATO.. where is my return? Can anyone shed some light on this?

To post 166: yeah, nothing to worry about, I got the exact same thing. Did you get the letter sent to you in hard copy? If so, it just means their new system is unable to process things manually and hence it now requires more manual work that's all. As long as you got all the receipts etc, there's nothing to worry about. You will eventually get your refund. It just takes time.

(To Jackie post 168). Thanks for the heads up! was a little worried b.c i have never received a letter before. so got me spooked a bit. Yeah received it last night in hard copy. So u got the exact same letter????????? have u ever had one of these letters before?? are they just sent out randomly to anyone? did u ever have to provide further evidence to them??
Thanks for the reassurance bc to the person who posted at #165 was a little harsh (skip the country)!!!!

Geez, talk about telling it like it is, i fully agree with you there 170. Do you reckon i could claim the phone calls and fuel expenses from ringing my bank to get the balance, and trips to ATM, they should pay for that too, the f_cking f_ckers.

way back i made comment 99.. update.. spoke to ato, when i commented that it was bad for 14 day service. she advised " no its a 30 day process" then proceeded to read out the pre-pared blurb which then said 14 days!! im so f'n confused!

I'll second that one 171. I seem to remember they were [gov], pretty quick to roll- out the stimulas package last year, when the economy was up the sh_t, but they can't send a rocket up the ATO to get things moving, funny that,............ conspiracy theory?

Hi Rhys, nothing to worry about...look at it this way...you're one in the 25,000 that had bad luck as the ATO's system basically spat it out and didn't know how to automate the process hence you got the letter. Moreover, let's us all not forget something...the ATO and the government for that matter works for us...the tax payers...hence the term they're our Public Servants...so really you're asking for a tiny portion of what you had paid to them not vice versa...worst case scenario, you'll be assigned a^n admin person that will go through the process with you and will push the tax return through manually - that's it! I wouldn't lose sleep over it!!

hi i lodged my return through a accountant on the 12th of july sitll no refund i have rang the auto service and is says something about manually processing it,i have also the ato serval times the staff there tell me nothing and are rude this is taking way to long

I have logde my tax return trough etax about 15 days ago. I call them the robot answer. They got my loggement form and said call again in 14 days..does this mean its takes over amonth to get a tax return..this is so stupid. My friend got there less than a week.

Checked my account on the way home tonight... I dead set almost fainted;

ATO Refund has FINALLY been deposited.

not sure when, but when I called my bank yesterday they told me that nothing had gone in, and nothing was waiting to go in.

6.07pm tonight $$$$$$$ are in my account... NOW i don't have any stress! woohoo!!??!!

Hopefully next year it won't take 26 bloody days to be deposited

Lodged tax return 2nd July ATO stated received it 3rd July I have called twice and on both occassions have had to speak to temp staff who had no idea what they were talking about and were rude as well when challenged about processing times and KPI's. 2nd August they told me it had been 'esclated' and I would have it within 14 days Sadly I had the exact same experience last year when the 14 days came and went and I complained loudly I was then allocated my own "case manager" then another two lots of 7 day escalations finally I got it .

After my last tax return, I owed the ATO $1500 and within 3 days of lodging my tax return, I had a letter of demand from them to pay within 14 days. I missed the 14 day deadline, then I received another letter of demand threatening legal action if I did not submit payment within 7 days. They got their money by the due time period. I suggest you all send letters of demand. Works for them! :-)

I am too waiting rung the ATO a few days ago and it said they had received it and not to call back until the 15th august and then i called again today and spoke to someone they said its being reviewed WHAT DOES THAT MEAN REVIEWED??? i lodged it on the 16th july through my tax account i have not received any letter nothing to say whats wrong so why is it taking so long???

Hi all, now let's consider this...you don't push and nothing gets done...you push and they put the spotlight on you...as in they will assign a case manager to audit you etc - this, in my opinion, can further prolong the process. I suggest you wait. Keep checking with Miss Robo. When it says you must contact the ATO - you do for the ascalation to push it along, but if you keep hassling them this might invite an audit which can further complicate things! So hang in there.

TODAY WILL BE THE 6 WEEK MARK SINCE I HAVE LODGED... SICK OF THEM STUFFING ABOUT.... SOMETHING HAS TO BE DONE.. THERE IS NOTHING WE CAN DO ABOUT IT BECAUSE THEY ARE THE GOVERNMENT... BUT IF WE OWE THEM MONEY WATCH OUT... ON MY FIRST ESCALATION NOW HAVE TO CALL MONDAY AND FIND OUT... I AM ABOUT TO HEAD OFF TO THE DEFENCE FORCES AND THERE ATTITUDE IS WE DONT CARE AS WE CAN DO NOTHING ABOUT IT.... EVEN THOUGH I AM GOING TO BE UNCONTACTABLE FOR 12 WEEKS... SCREW THE ATO

Day ???? i have lost count. Lodged 5th July ... I am over it ATO u suck.. I can see everyones bills piled up in one corner. On my home phone my message now reads. 'If you are calling about money that it is owed to you please wait until my escalted tax return is received. Please call back in 10 days. Do the same.

Sumitted mine by E-Tax 20 July , nothing yet but Family assist, and CSA have my income details. Rang ATO today spoke to them and was told mine was up to Notice of assesment being in progress. The reason for the hold up I was told due to I went back to my maiden name and had to check I was who I said....from last tax return...

Funny thing also spoke to Family assist aswell, asked about the outstanding owing to me was told "oh you won't get that until ATO issue me with my NOA. Gee guys I have been out of work for the last 3 weeks have no income, bills rent etc to be paid hello......I need my money to survive.... I paid you time to pay me back....

hahahahaha @ Con post #181

This is bulls*&t. lodged my return on the 20th July called them on the 9th Aug. Got old love on the phone, yes its all good just in the final stages(??) and (im thinking wheres my f%*#en money) Then she went on to say It will be in your account in a day or two. Well its now the 11th Aug no Tax money. I reckon they are broke!

Woo Hoo was startin to feel left out but I have now been offically waiting 30days ................now the interest starts kickin in, the longer I wait the more interest you ato have to pay, and I am SO SO over it.
Just curious what state first batch of Tax refunds that were distributed last week from.??????

Ok, so I recieved by NOA in the mail today but so far no money has been placed in my acct... Wierd. Here's hoping its in my acct at 12:01 am ( as thats when my acct seems to recieve its credits)... will call in two minutes and let you guys know. been waiting since the 13th, car needs repairs so am desperate. Here's hoping!

Ok. so I just checked my acct then... Guess I will have to wait for yet another day! I need my car fixed, and its not fair on my folks to have to drive me around!!! AAARGH!!!

I lodged mine thru e-tax online on the 12th july, im still bloody waiting for my money.

I have rang them nearly everyday and all they can come out with is it had to be entered manually.....yeh whatever each time ive rang someones told me different.anyway today im going to ring and give them a piece of my mind i want my fu...ng money and they are a disgrace.

There quick to take our funds from each pay but when it comes to paying it back they have months to get it right for the lodment but no they are hopeless.

Im sick of checking my bank and seeing no funds...........i bet that Gillard thing got her dam tax back as well as all politicians....a DISCGRACE>

Lodged on 2nd of July through e-tax. Rang yesterday and they told me to ring back after the 21st of august if I still haven't received anything. You for real... it's been 41 DAYS already.

Last year it took 5 days, what the hell is going on, benn waiting 2 weeks, i have a felling its not gona happen anytime to soon, seriousely, if something aiint broke, why fix it????????, the new system is a 200 million dollar piece of crap!!!!!!!!!!!

is it true that if the funds are not in your account within 30 days of lodgement then interest is accurable?? does any1 know how much that interest rate is??
3 weeks yesterday STILL NOTHING! i am sick to death of lookin in my account everyday too and see $0.

Me again, how is the interest calculated?? by each day they're late or just a total % on the amount owing to you?

I think the interest rate is around 4%, (10-14cents per day) .. i lodged mine on 05/07 and still nothing.. i am ashamed to say we have all been duped into the deceitful lies of this office. I will call again. .. im sure my file notes are a mile high. I want people who call to say they will lodge a complaint with the taxation ombudsman.

Stay tuned to my post tomorrow.

If anyone sees either Gillard or Abbott ask them what the F is going on.

What a joke read below and they say they have caught up...not a chance...what lies....I CANNOT ELIVE THAT THIS HAS NOT HEADLINED ON TODAY TONIGHT etc

In our last update, on 30 July 2010, we noted that in the period from 1 July 2010 to 29 July 2010, the ATO had issued more than 1.25 million notices of assessment, including just over 1.04 million refunds.

This week, we have finalised a further 800,000 assessments and the vast majority of these are refunds, with electronic funds (EFT) payments being made from today (6 August 2010). By the time these refunds issue, the ATO will have paid out over $4 billion in refunds since 9 July 2010.

Have there been delays in processing 2010 tax returns?

As is the case every year, we could not begin processing returns straight away, because we had to test the new software installed for the 2009-2010 year. This happens every year because it is necessary to install new software for any changes in the tax laws. This year, we did not begin processing income tax returns until 9 July 2010 and if you lodged your return prior to 9 July, processing would have been delayed.
Up to 23 July, there were delays with the processing of returns for taxpayers who have Higher Education Loan Program (HELP) and Student Financial Supplement Scheme (SFSS) obligations. We needed to carry out extended testing of the accuracy of assessments for these returns. Processing of these returns commenced on 23 July 2010 – therefore, if you a filed a return before 23 July 2010 and you had a HELP or SFSS obligation, your assessment would take longer to complete.
Last week, we had more returns on hand than we were able to process. While refunds were issued every day, last week-end we caught up, which enabled us to finalise 800,000 assessments this week.
Overall, the regular flow of assessments and refunds has not been as consistent during our first four weeks of processing as we would have liked and we are taking steps to smooth out these fluctuations.
We apologise for any inconvenience these delays may have caused.

Hey fellas, so I rang up the ATO again today (this is the 3rd call) - they said that it's been ascalated to the next level and that I should get a refund within 14 days. However, when I call up the automated system even after having been ascalated to the next level - the automated message still has not changed and still says for me to clal the ATO as it "requires further action."

Anyone experience this - so frustrating!

The ATO recieved my tax return on 8th July... its now been over 30 days.. this has never happened before!!

I rang the ATO and its been eslcated and now they said 14 days the tax return has been processed with nil mistakes.. this is TOTALLY NOT GOOD ENOUGH.. if it arrives at the 14 day point it will be a total of 44 days perhaps an Australian record

Surely the government has been holding onto our funds for longer and claiming millions of dollars of interest in this period while eveyday Australians suffer at the government expense... Please explain Julia??

@ Jackie 0, 195. Yes same for me and the thousands of others who lodged in the second week of July through E-TAX.. there are far too many people in the same situation for it to be a co-incidence. I have complained, I have escalated.. seriously what is so complicated about a simple individual tax return? First the excuse was HELP FFS, now it's the claim amount.. any excuse to cover the shambles of an IT system currently being used. Nothing should take 40 days in the year 2010.

Hey all so lodged mine just over three weeks ago now, and made my first call to the automated system - (thought about calling earlier but you all seem to have had such trouble with both the automated system and rude operators, didn't think it was worth the pain!), but miss automated told me today that my assessment was finalised today! Well thats all well and good, but when should I expect MY cash!! Huh, can you tell me that computer?? Any one have any idea, or am I going to be waiting another 3 weeks.. Damn ato...

Dear Miss Automated. I am sick to death of your voice. Everytime i have called your number, as you are a representative of the ATO, you have given me nothing but the answer i dont want to hear. Even you have attitude... I have received my phone bill and yes the wife thinks i am in love with you, but no no no. I will eventually give up. ATO u suck

I lodged mine on the First on July, the same as two of my workmates.. they both got theirs back within 14 days.. and i'm still waiting...
the only difference between mine and theirs is i pay child support and they do not.
have done the call for the escalation and was told to wait until after the 14th to call again. I think they are just stuffing me around and as i have been reading, they are stuffing a lot of other people around too..
I'm not voting for gillard..

Alex said '200 million dollar piece of crap'.

Correction - $850 million dollar piece of crap.

Att: Andrew 197. Thanks for that...yeah, it's hilarious and annoying at the same time. I think I now have an idea how and why all this is happening...if you lodged your return during the first two weeks of July via Etax, you have a HECS or Child Support or Mortgage claim then they will body slam you with system errors. For the lucky few that seemed to bypass all these issues; it's because their tax return was much simpler and most likely did not have the above. However, this is the year 2010!!!!

Can you please confirmyou still are getting the same "please call ato as your tax return requires further" message from the system even after it's been ascalated?

Just checked my bank and ATO has finally paid up, i hope everyone else whos waiting gets tehres asap and my advice is to keep onto them as much as you can with your financial hardship.cheers

Chad - can you please run through what you went through?

okay update i lodged my tax return on the 13 july still nothing back just spoke to the ato the lady said there has been a esculation put on my return and i will have it back within 14 days she assured me that there was nothing wrong with my return as the ato would have contacted me by now.all i can do is wait soo frustrating.

I have made a few posts and yes I am still waiting. I am now on day 32 and still not refund, yesterday I called and they esculated it and now I have been informed it still can take up to another 14 days. When I call the Autobot woman now it has a new message saying it requires further action LOL what a joke.
I did ask the lady I spoke to who escualated it about interest applied to my tax refund now that because it is over the 30 day time frame & she informed me that the interest rate is 11.8% and is now applied to my tax refund each day its late now so that $11.80 each day. now its just a waiting game...hopefully I will get next week now ...but who knows ???

05/07, still no return. I am soooo tired of calling them, ATO ihave said you suck n have caused to much grief in the community, at least send an apology and a guarantee date to all.

It's been 36 days and not a damn cent. I've already ascalated it to the next level and that's all I'm going to do. I'm just going to ignore all this for 2 more weeks before taking the next step if required. Frankly I cannot be stuffed.

Did you know you can LODGE A CLAIM FOR COMPENSATION FROM THE ATO FOR DETRIMENT CAUSED BY DEFECTIVE ADMINISTRATION????????? Its 42 days already, ATO admitted they owe me $3.5K and late only because I have a HECS debt, when will I get it? official response "HOW LONG IS A PIECE OF STRING?".

I get paid $25/h so when I get my refund I will claim compo for every single second I have spent following this up, making complaints, googling net to find out what is happening, so far 10 hours, oh plus $100 x 3 for 3 visits to a psychologist to discuss the stress this has caused and debrief. BASTARDS.

This is an election issue. Forget the mining tax, all senior management of the tax office should be sacked. They don't care about us plebs. Sacked without entitlements.

Yes same story I have been waiting for 42 days - Bet Dr Henry, Gillard and Swan have their refunds (not to mention their superannuation and retirement pensions they will get when retiring!!!!!!!!!!!!

Day 42,, Zzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzz, nothing yet. can soemone please waj\ke the people in ATO, tell them to get their A***es into gear

Tried etax, ATO decided to change my DOB and I had to go in and prove to them I have not change it. was told to wait 1 day, 2 days 3 days and 5 days everytime I called. everytime the operator told me different stories then advised me to send in paper copy. Since I lodged a complain still ask me to wait another 50 somethings days as paper copy takes longer. The last statement made by the department is that 50 days count down starts from the day they decided to process your doc, meaning it can be sitting in some boxes for months before they decided to action anything. Am pissed.

"she informed me that the interest rate is 11.8% and is now applied to my tax refund each day its late now so that $11.80 each day. now its just a waiting game...hopefully I will get next week now ...but who knows ???"

Ok, unless you are a millionaire you aren't getting $11.80 a day in interest. Sorry to break it to you.

The interest rate is an annual amount, calculated daily. Like all interest rates.

Say for example your return was $2000:
2000/100 * 11.80 = $236.

So 236 is the total amount of interest.

Then you need to work out the daily rate:
236/365=0.646. So it's like 65 cents a day.

Anyhoo, I lodged on the 11th July.
I'm not escalating it, because I don't want someone to have to manually check it before it's paid in case there are any mistakes.

171
rhys
Tue 10/08/2010 - 14:52

I'll second that one 171. I seem to remember they were [gov], pretty quick to roll- out the stimulas package last year, when the economy was up the sh_t, but they can't send a rocket up the ATO to get things moving, funny that,............ conspiracy theory?

Nope, it's because the stimulus payments were delivered by Centreilnk and the Family Assistance Office, and we are way more efficient. The system was set up and paying within days.

Hi Guys can we put up a Class Action against ATO. Any one knows a lawyer who can help us to lawsuit Class Action against ATO? Please post your response here.

4 weeks!! Finally, I got my tax return this morning! so they didn't have to pay me interest on top of it

I lodged via e-tax 1st July, Simple tax return. Nothing to claim, no HECS or anything else. I have been ringing every week and have been told that it has been escalated and is a high priority. It was apparently sent to the processing team on 6th August and can still take up to 14 days to process. This is an absolute joke. Day 48 and still counting. Might get my return by the end of the month if I'm lucky.

Apart from the above comments Im not happy about my own return.

Lodged it on the 10th August (just recently) Thought Id try out the Auomated line for myself, Spent all year telling people to do so, so it was wierd doing it "for real".

My Tax return, Well the wages from last years ATO job, and 3 months at AusPost on a 3 month contract.

Any Dole or Centerlink items?.. No
Any Hecs or any other scheme?.. I wish! No
Any Deductions, Business or otherwise?.. No
Any Child Support, Family stuff, FTB etc?.. No
Any Bank Interest or shares?... No
Any Supplement Questions?.. No

The easiest Return you could imagine. And ive seen more that you can imagine.

Well the automated service says my return should be completed in around 42 days?!?

Was my tax return a paper based one?.. Um.. No
it was E-Tax.

My theory I came up with last year (and kept to myself) was that the government cant just handout money from the returns willy nilly, It has to be staggered out, otherwise the govt would be broke in a matter of days. This I saw first hand with the roll out of the Tax Bonus scheme.
So we wait for months otherwise the opersition would jump on the Govt's Financial figures. As there is an election on, Expect major delays..

I received my return today lodged on the 20 th July etax. Hang In there. It is a f...ing disgrace the way this has been handled. I don't know if it's been swept under the carpet. I work in construction and waiting for this election to be over and done with caus they have put a hold on a project that I was working on. Good luck to all

I lodged my taxt return on the 19 of July. It is now the 17th of AUgust and still nothing.. it has been 30 days. I lodged my tax via etax which states that the standard processing time is 2 weeks. I phoned the ATO on Friday and they said to call after 30 days.. the automated service said to call after the 18th of August. I called the complaints line instead and they said that it will take up to 3 working days for someone to get back to me. Absolute crap.. every other year our return is back within 7 days. It is a straight forward return also! Something needs to be done!! Why has this not been addressed in the public?? Probably something to do with the election I'm guessing!!!!!JUST BE HONEST ATO SO THAT PEOPLE KNOW WHEN TO EXPECT THEIR RETURNS!!! MANY PEOPLE RELY ON THEIR RETURNS TO MAKE ENDS MEET!!! Disgraceful!!

Lodged 05/07.. received MY money today.. ATO u suk.. Goodluck to you all who are chasing... ATO is bad for business.

Again People seem to think the ATO are "hiding" something from clients when they ring, No they are not. All the ATO employee gets on his screen is what the Automated replay tells YOU!.

So each time you ring a temp backpacker call center guy has to creatively tell you "Something" just to calm you down.
There is no scripting for these events so sometimes they just wing it. that's why you get multiple answers each time you ring, There;s NO conspiracy let me tell you..

Im not employed by the ato now. and im not trying to defend their lax processing times. But if only you could take a fraction of the calls ive had and you'd know.

Lets see they get 200,000 Returns a day! yep thats per day. the population is growing at a stupid rate, you do the maths

its been three weeeks and i still havent recieved my return usually i have it within ten days rrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrr!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

i hv lodged my tax return electronically through a tax agent on 24th july....still havent received my refund.....ATO says to contact after 30 days.....i think everybody is getting this same answer.......what a crap........dont know how long is the wait.......:(

we lodged our tax return and got it in 9 days!
i think the tax ofice is up the craphole this year and we need new government!!!

Still waiting and its around 37 days now.......Im going to an accountant next year which is sad as I have used etax now for the previous five years and never had an issue.......My vote is definitely going to Liberal this year!! Also why haven't we heard anything on this on tv? It should be a major headline.

228- i went to accountant, into day 41 with no explanation from them or the ATO.
Told yesterday would be another 14 days. if i applied for hardship would be "at least" 14 days.. go figure!
dont think it matters which way you vote this year... it still will be a donkey vote!
im over this crap!

still waiting day 41 now. had to cancel holiday grrrr. shame on you ato. and labour uv just lost my vote. not happy !

All these people blaming the labor party. What the hell has it got to do with them? They don't run the ATO. It is just the incompetence of the ATO who are public servants who would have stuffed it up even with the liberal party in power. If the liberal party come in, do you think they will sack every one in the ATO? All these public servants keep their jobs whenever the government is changed.

Day 25, Still NO Tax Return.I bet that the ATO will not pay interest on the FTB Conciliation that they are holding up.
Why does the ATO continue to state on their website usually 14 Days ?
Perhaps they should state, up to 30 days. Very misleading.

Still nothing after 43 days. I can't be bothered persuing it since I'm overseas atm. Just hope everyday it's in my account and keep reassuring myself that it's MY money they owe me so I've done nothing wrong.

Guys, it's no use calling the ATO human call centre 10 times a week. They're just temp staff with a script. The reality is thier system is stuffed and it will take anything from 2-4 months to get the refund.

Jackie O is correct. I submitted my tax return on 1 July through e-tax. I've called 6 times since then & its been 'elevated' twice. Each time they've elevated it they've pushed the refund date out an extra two weeks. Today I finally got hold of someone in the processing centre in Albury (instead of the call centre) who said they needed to 'check information' on my return. When I questioned her more on what extra information they needed, she finally said that there are huge processing problems and they aren't actually checking anything on my return... so now my refund date is 2 September!!!! She then said I would be receiving interest on my refund once it eventually is processed.

we too have been waiting for 34 days and have escalated it as well but i guess like everyone else it will show up when it does i just dont understand why they just cant tell us the truth about what is going i dont really mind how long it takes as long as i know the truth as to what is happening. I guess we wouldve had a letter or something by now if something wrong in our return. My accountant cant even help me he has had no info from them.

29 days and counting.

whether I need it or not is besides the point. i pay more than enough tax and am entitled to my refund within a reasonable timeframe. normally no longer than 10 days.

my situation is not anomalous as evidenced by comments on this matter. this many people can't be wrong - there is a definite glitch in the system.

*slow clap* well done ATO

Lodged on the 20 July and still waiting. The automated answering service said to call them on the 19th August, did that and the rude and uncaring person on the other end, just said "it will prob be here by the end of next week" (yes, she said prob) not to mention she was eating while on the phone to me! HOW RUDE.
ITS MY MONEY

I am so pissed! Seriously! if i knew this would of happend i would of made sure that i was covered, i made promises for payment that i owed people expecting like all the other years it would definatly not take more the 2 weeks, thinking to myself it will be in my account in the typical 7 days like all the other years, 3 weeks later, still waiting, ATO, UR A BUNCH OF MORONS! YOU SPENT $800 MILLION on a system to replace a good functioning one, what is wrong with every goverment that comes into power????? are people just dumb or something! F*&$ YOU ATO!@

Yep like all the rest of use ive been lied to and lied to daily. My return was recieved by the ato on the 6th of july and it has been escalated so many times i think that means { F*** you and im lying to your face} please dont vote for the current government because look how they treat us. some dam values mrs gillard

Update fellas: after 39 days, calling the robot system 15 times and 2 ascalations my status on the automated system finally changed to "your assessment has been prepared and will be sent to you soon. Do not call back for another 10 days." my mate had the same message and got his money that weekend! Do let's hope this materializes for me! But seriously, the ATO is so screwed up this year it's not funny!! My advise is don't even call them anymore just wait!!

Guys, I couldn't sleep and checked my bank account and the cash was there!!! I'm still in utter shock. The ATO finally paid me after 40 days. The trick is ascalate it once and then just sit tight and wait it out...

Good luck every!!

How convient i got my on election day after 36 days of waiting my accountant rung this morning nice and early to tell me it was in his account thank goodness. i honestly think its just the luck of the draw who gets there fast and who waits so everyone who hasnt got it just sit tight you should have it soon.

Ksha interesting comment.
I too got somewhat of a 'real answer' I assumed that they had hired untrained temps to handle the volume of calls atm.
This was reiterated when every phone call I was read the same script by a call operator.
I pushed them to answer what 'manual checks' were being performed on my return ... As to whether there was an issue with my return personally or whether it was due to the glitch in the system and they need to manually override these.
The response was the latter.
My friends was received by them on the 6th July and mine on the 8th July we waited 31 days before calling. He has his escalated on the 6th August.
I had mine escalated on the 9th August.
They said his would be in his account within 14 days.
They told me mine was undergoing further checks and would receive an answer in 14 days (though then I rang up 3 days later and was told the response above).
My friend's didn't come after 14 days. He phoned and they escalated again and said it will be within the next 14 days.
Mine is due tomorrow technically.
I am sure it won't be there. I will phone Monday and surely get another load of lies.
But who knows maybe after the election is over they might come out with the truth?!

And I agree that we are entitled to our refunds within a specified time. That the ATO has mislead our nation and do hope they pay (A HIGH RATE OF) interest on the money because they should not benefit from this screw up.

We deserve answers is this not a democracy? This has highlighted our governments inability to implement new technology and ability to hide the truth of their inabilities from the public.

i've been waiting 51 days now - this is beyond incompetancy. The lastest spin coming out of the ATO is that the new software has captured $65 million in fraudulant claims. However in the fine print they say that only 77% of etax returns have been processed within the 14 day period. $9 billion dollars has been returned to people.

Which makes you wonder. If the other 23% of late payments are returned with interest, that's about 4.6% on $2.5 billion - how cost effective has the new system been? Even if those of us who have been waiting recieve only $20 in interest - that would amount to over $100 million in interest

Your tax dollar at work

Try calling the ATO refund helpline today. Again. Now they are 'experiencing peak demand' and won't even take the phone call. Not even to get through to the automated service.
I think this issue has fallen through the media crack because of the election attention. Given it's now a slow news day as everyone is waiting for the election counts to finish, maybe the media might pay attention... Try emailing a few news outlets and see what happens... :)

Had logged mine through etax on 5th July; GOT IT TODAY... :-D

I lodged my tax return on the 16th July and I am still waiting for some clarification on where my $1200 refund is.

I made a call to the ATO on the 17th August to find out what was going on and was told my account has been escalated.

I still had not heard anything, so I made another call today. The call centre operator told me that any escalations usually take 14 days. So at this stage I have already waited 39 days and have another 7 to wait on my escalation so I have been told meaning it will be a total of 46 days since I have lodged my tax on e-tax online.

I was so fed up that I made a complaint online today.

I am not happy being a solid tax payer for years and years to not have the ATO working as efficiently as they should be. It is just not good enough.

I recieved my notice of assessment over a week ago and the money has not been credited to my account. Has anyone else had this happen? Please help.

These incompetents sent my tax demand on a Wednesday to my accountant, he sent it to me immediately and I received it on Friday. Payment of $9500 was due on Monday or I would be "penalised".

I thought i was the only one waiting for my refund. I lodged e-tax on the 19th of July and i'm still waiting. for the past 5 years i would get my refund in 8 to 10 days. every time i call they say your claims have no problems with it. Its just your not the only one we have to process there are heaps of people before you in the line. I'm not HAPPY ATO....

hello guys well i nearly fainted when i checked my account yesterday my money was in there after taking 45 days all i suggest is that you guys stay on the ato back good luck hope you all get your returns soon

Day 50 & still waiting ATO. I surely must have the world record on waiting for a refund?? (lodged July6). Well done ATO E Tax sux & i will be lodging a paper return next year - i might even get it back quicker. I am also claiming all the phone calls, atm trips & internet usage next year in the wasted time taken me in checking for my refund.

i lodged my tax 4 weeks ago, and have not been giving any consent on when we will recieve our tax return that's if they are still actually giving tax money out, i think its appauling that they test new software one week into people lodging tax claims.

i have been waiting 50 days now and they telll me a different story each time i ring they have put a esclation on it twice .. still nothing im being told now it should be in there within 3 days tomorrow will be the 3rd day .. i was told that they are waiting on information !!! what information everything they need is on the return i filled it out as they said on the e - tax site .every other year there has been no prob ? im a little confused and the people on the phone cant tell me whats going on ? very dissapointing !!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!! is anyone else been waiting this long i lodged it onthe 7th of july

I have also been waiting 50 days now. I had it esclated 12 days ago was told not to ring back until 2nd sept. I was also told it could be another month of waiting ? wat the hell i cant understand it ! Its starting to piss me off. my return is very straight forward i cant find or think of anything that would be wrong. I went through a tax agent that guarentees 14 day return and they wont help or give me any answers what so ever. fingers crossed it comes next week i wont hold my breathe for it though

I too am waiting for my tax refund,grrrrrrrrrr..got it done in town on the 26 July and told I would receive it in 14 days,still waiting.I rang the lady that done my tax and she checked and said it was in credit and the Tax Department hadnt released it,then found that my arrears for Child Support was being paid from it ( I didnt mind that)but I still had money owing to me from what was left..Waited three weeks then rang the automated number,that crank told me it was lodged on the 1st August 2010 and it wasnt in credit grrrrrrrrrr.everyone is passing the buck here and someone needs to be held accountable,and was told YET AGAIN to wait 5 weeks..STILL NOTHING...whats going on grrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrr

ATO FAX NUMBER : 1300 130 900
I've been waiting 60 days for my return. I ring twice a day and get lies lies lies. They put an "exclimation" through 3 times which is supposed to reduce it down to 7 days.
We said this was not good enough. ATO told us to fax them through proof of financial hardship claim which we did and WAS ACCEPTED by them. Now the ATO says it should be in the bank within 7 DAYS!! What was the point.
ALL my calls to the ATO I have recorded.
I have been an Austrailian Tax payer for 20 Years. I have now quit my job and have applied for the DOLE. I am NEVER going to pay tax in Austrailia again!!!
The ATO'S FAX NUMBER IS 1300 130 900
FEEL FREE TO FAX THEM TO LET THEM KNOW WHAT YOU THINK

day 52 and still waiting. maybe if im lucky il get it in time for xmas. i think mine has been lost in the new system grrrrrrrrrrrrrrr

Following up to my comment 244.
I FINALLY received mine on the 24th of this month as did my friend as we had both escalated after 1 month and then 2 weeks after that.
I received $7 interest.

Only a 45 day wait. Thanks ATO.

ok i i posted on the 26/8/10 and wasnt suprised when my tax hadnt been payed to me so i rang them back toled them ive been waiting 56 days now whats going on? they have the nerve to still lie and say there still waiting on information ? i told the lady i know u have back logs and this infomation u are feeding me is incorrect she still claimed that this is what us going on and she couldnt tell me anything further !! so i asked her what us the point of this service if u cant tell me my own information she said we are just a call centre !! the tax off are criminals holding our money back they have n prob taking it .. all the ppl who still havent recieved theirs should send them an invoice with amount still owing plus late fees and GST included ...weonly get 4% intrest annual please...

ow and they still cant tell me when im going to get it now .. no 14 days or 7 days just sorry sir i dont know any more information and i cant access your files due to policy ....really starting to get on my nerves it was a simple tax return thats all!!

i have the same problem as u 262. the only difference iv been told i could b waiting another mth or so. did you go through a tax agent or etax ?

It has been 30 days and I've just called to escalate. It is extremely frustrating not to get real information from the ATO, just generic spiels again and again and again. The publication of weekly updates listing their successful outcomes on the ATO website is PR spin and ultimately a farce. The lack of transparency is a disgrace. As is the lack of respect for consumers of their woefully inadequate services. Vent over.

to comment 263 i lodged my via e-tax like i have every year with no dramas .. so i rang the tax office AGAIN and now there saying i should expect a call from the case manager this afternoon at 4 if not to ring them back ,one thing they did say was my end date was 27th of August and she doesnt know why they havent processed it .. either do i as im told every thing is fine with my return as they can see !! very frustrating and theres little i can do about it

265 keep me posted on how you go with your phone call. As each day passes its getting more and more frustrating. I wish we were at least told the truth. 55 days of waiting is way to long and very stressful. Every year i have used return on a family holiday this year i had no choice but to cancel very dissapointing

I also filed a complaint through the ato on line last wednesday. Was told someone would ring or email me within 3 working days. surprise surprise i havent heard anything from them and dont exspect to.

Rang the ato line this morning automated voice now says your tax refund will be issued shortly if you havent recieved within 10 days ring back. Hopefully i have it this week * fingers crosssed *

Its infuriating not only having to wait for money which we are owed, but to have the Commissioner brag about how they are doing well and imply that those experiencing delays are often to blame for not filling out their returns properly.

I used to respect the ATO as one government department that was actually efficient, but not after this year. OK, if there are delays after a computer upgrade that is one thing (though why they would test a new system with live data is beyond me), but they should just admit it and apologise rather than denying the problem. And their support services are a joke - if you try to check your rebate status, you either get an automated voice telling you to wait longer before calling back, or call centre staff that can tell you nothing. If you try and apply for hardship, the application takes weeks and even if you are successful you have to wait 14 days, which is how long its meant to take in the first place!

If we owed the ATO money, they threaten you with court action and charge massive amounts of interest, but if they owe you, they don't even start paying nominal interest until they are 30 days in or something. Considering that they have overtaxed us in the first place, this is tremendously unfair - they can (and probably do) earn a lot of interest just by keeping our money for a couple of weeks. Basically they are abusing their power - the fact that they make up the rules - and cheating us. And we can't even vote them out because they are public servants rather than politicians. Despicable.

Lodged husbands tax return on 2.7.2010 - did get back FAO supplements which was great - took 4 weeks for that. But apparently still no tax assessment for husband. Phoned taxline and says 'further action required before processing' -how come FAO released funds but tax still needing further action? Doesnt that mean they've processed it? - Does FAO and ATO not work together? Normally use Etax and every year get back assessment within 7-10 days. What is going on this year. Makes you nervous thinking youve made a mistake or being audited or something - Thought it was pretty simple tax return.

Well, this forum seems to have quieted down quite a bit... I guess many have now received their refunds. I did my hubbys on 19th July via e-tax and yes, we are still waiting! We rang 2 weeks ago today and it was 'escalated' ... you know, the usual jargon given. We were told it was kind of sitting in limbo just waiting for someone to release the payment.... there were no markers or red flags and no reason could be seen for it to have not been sent. Anyway, she seemed to think it would be all sorted in a few days time... that was 2 weeks ago. Hubby is going to call them again this afternoon so it will be interesting to see what they tell us this time. I noticed when reading through recent posts here, it can be escalated more than once! Good Grief! I know that we shouldn't depend on tax money coming in... but hey, when your told 14 days by the very people themselves who process the tax returns and when every other year they actually DO process them within the 14 days... then you kind of DO depend on it... its only human! I know some people who actually increase the amount of tax they pay weekly/fortnightly, so they get more back come end of tax year. Its kind of like a savings thing for them... I do hope they didn't have any problems like this! Anyway, its all very frustrating and I've decided that after today, I'm just going to put it to the back of my mind. The sorry fact is... theres absolutely NOTHING anyone can do about it, so I'm not going to stress out over it any longer. Anyone else here still waiting????

I am just wondering what the go is with receiving your NOA and then the refund?! In previous years I usually receive the refund in my account BEFORE I receive the NOA in my letterbox.
I have now received my NOA - How much longer will it take to see the refund in my account?!

To all of you that have waitied 40-50 days plus.. had you received your NOA before this time??

Lodged 12th July and still waiting despite escalation and numerous phone calls. I now believe that escalation and phone calls do absolutely nothing.

Still waiting. Lodged via accountant 29th July. Simple return. No claims, nothing. Just straightforward refund. Have escalated after the 30 days. Have to wait another fortnight before they'll do anything further. Called again today. They said there are no problems with it but that it's being manually processed and I'll just have to be patient. Trying hard not to stress about it but it's so frustrating!

Lodged on the 14th of July on line and have been escalated twice but nothing yet. Simple refund of $1000 with no claims or interest. Duh!!!

272 i waited 56 days finally my tax agent recieved my funds now i have to wait another week for them to post it to me god only knows why ? I never recived my noa. The ato rang me yesterday apologized for the delay and told me i was given around $100 in interest for the delay

Wow i was begining 2 think the complete lack of service provided by the ato was only affecting a few of us i lodged my tax return via E-tax on the 6th of July and am still waiting despite 3 escalations and countless phone calls 2 ato so called customer help line not 1 of person has been able 2 give me any helpfull info im sure if i had a tax debt they wouldnt take half the time 2 send me that :( not good enough

lodged on the 19th of July and only get an automated messge "your tax return requires further action before send out to you" hmm.. dont know how long we have to wait...
Checking afew times a day but since gone thru all of this comments i know why now. Too tired to put up with it.

what a crap!!! i lodged my return 18th july 2010. still waiting. its been escalated and countless phone calls. everytime they come up with different reason. Last time chick told me they experiencing technical issues and don't know when they will be fixed. Next day i read the website which said there are no technical issue which would delay the process. what a load of crap!!!

Lodged tax return via etax on 16th July! FINALLY was in my account today! Esculated once! Glad I have it but am so annoyed had to wait so long! Am just happy I have it before my holiday later this month! ATO you're a joke! grrrr. Hang in there those that are still waiting, hopefully yours arent too far off!

@ post 280 how much intrest did u receive??

OMG are you serious it has now been 49 days and we are still waiting for our tax return what a joke made many calls to the ATO and told next week then next week comes then next week verrrryyyyy frustrating lord give me strength not to lose it. The ATO arent bad when you owe them money they hound and hound you and want it paid yesterday now the shoe is on the other foot whole different ball game hey what a joke :(

@ post 281! Still waiting for tax assessment notice, but I think it is around $100. Pffft would have preferred my $2500 6 weeks ago!

Okay... this is further to my post 271! We are now at day 54 since we lodged hubbys tax via e-tax. 4 weeks after lodgement he called them and got the escalation spiel... you know how that goes! She told us we should have the payment within 14 days. 14 days later, he called them again (this was one week ago) and the young gentleman told us that its still just sitting there in limbo and needs someone to press the button to let the payment go! Hubby asked him who was the ombudsman, so we could complain... you won't believe this but the consultant actually told him that he wouldn't advise him to put in a complaint as that will make you wait even longer for the return! I mean... was that a kind of threat or something! GRRRRRRR Anyway, hubby rang again yesterday and its been 'escalated' a second time!!! She refused to put him through to the people who actually work on the returns... saying that they don't talk to customers! Well, if the people who are actually completing the returns don't tell the ones who DO talk to customers what the flip is going on, what the hec is the use of an enquiry line at all! And get this, we have now been told that this escalation (which is more urgent than the first) can take up 28 days! We are both feeling quite frustrated... not because we have to wait for a refund.. but because our questions don't get answered, we continuously get fobbed off with scripted answers and the worst is the fact that they seem to think we, the public are STUPID and don't know what they are doing! And there seems to be nothing we can do about it. Its like the Tax Dept is a law unto themselves! Okay, sorry for the rant and rave... its all very frustrating!

i lodged my tax return on 6th of july, but i'm still waiting my tax refund......

i lodged on the 12thjuly and still waiting many excuses and escalations i have been escalated 3 times now to the highest possible i dont think they know what they are doing...... different answer each week.:(

So I lodged my tax return on the 1.8.10 & my Husbands on the 28.7.10 via etax. after many phone calls both of our returns have been escalated twice, I have been told Family Assistance had to review them ( family assistance sent me a letter on 2.8.10 advising that they had been notified via ATO of our income assessment) then this week I was told my return was processed on the 11.9.10 and I would receive my return on today. Surprise Surprise no return. I contacted ATO today only to be told that my return had not been processed (even after I had been told 4 days earlier that it had been processed and been given my refund details) and that they would escalate it as high priorty. What a load of crap - they have no idea what they are doing. To date my Husbands return has been escalated 3 times now and he has been told to wait a further 10 days before he contacts them again. A little bit of honesty would go a long way - its amazing that they can't get a return to you in the advertised time frames but they hassle you eveyday when you owe them money. Your lucky some days to even get a person to talk to then they put you on hold for 10-15mins while they collect all your details! I have lodged a complaint with the ATO today and I have also lodged a complaint with Family Assistance office in case they are the one's holding things up. Maybe I will get an answer some time soon.

Lodged on 16th July 63 days and counting! Escalated 6 times befor lodging a complaint, have now escalated the complaint! apparently return is having to be put though manually as the system won't release the funds. All this after I was told on the 28th July that it had been approved and the money set aside for the refund! If my complaints officer does not return my call today I will ring the complaints line again tomorrow and see if I can speak to her manager. Soooo frustrating. It seems it is only refunds that are blocked - no problems asking for money if you owe them. Funny that!

Would be interesting to see how much money in interest the ATO is making this debarcle (off holding onto these peoples hard earned money). Their always quick to get on you for not paying them but the second they stuff up and have to pay out they make you put your nose to the grindstone and suck it up. Fix the problem and stop stealing from the australian public. Someone needs their ass kicked over this 1.

message 288 i feel your pain - i handed in my reply on the 15th of july and ive been escalated then escalate into an 'ASAP' category that meant they would call 48 hours later - its been a week now since i was escalated the second time. i'd hate to be in a position where i needed the money soon, cause i hold no hope in seeing it before november the way things are going. calling the ATO is about as useful as ashtray on a motorbike. i dont even know if its worth complaining anymore... just annoying how ASAP for them means 'as slow as possible'

Lodged 13/7. Still waiting for refund despite "High Priority" escalation. According to the call centre, I just have to wait as nothing further can be done. I was told I could lodge a complaint but that probably wouldn't speed things up. Not bad for a claimed 14 day refund.

Lodged 27th July . Still waiting have been escalated and told that some one will call in 48 hours . Still waiting for that miracle .
ATO are a joke .

Lodge a complaint please people!! I work in the call centre. We cannot do anything but just put on a higher prioty. The more complaints we get because of the system, the more likely they are to find the problem. The number to call is 1800 199 010.

Dont blame Labor either. This system was being brought through slowly since way before they came into power! They have no say as to what systems are being used. Oh and I waited 3 weeks for mine which was lodged electronically so dont think that we got prioty processing either. waited 2 months for my FTB which was centrelinks issue.

I agree with all , my husbands return is now on day 66, he did get a return phone call but took them 10 days. He was told exactly what everyone else has been told nothing we can do.

His return is no different from any other year and they have been done within a 4 week time frame, he was audited a few years ago but still no delay like this, the ATO needs to sort this out, they are only going to get bombarded with last minute returns now which will no doubt cause futher delays.

I hope everyone who has been waiting for SOOOOO LONG gets theirs completed and paid out before the last minute ones because these people are to lazy to have them done sooner.

Rach
Its not laziness if people haven't done their tax return yet.
I expect there would be longer delays if everyone did them at the same time.

I lodged my tax return in July - my accountant logged onto the ATO website and saw my tax return had been paid in early September.

Nothing in my account...

Now I have moved to China, and after my accountant has made several enquiries where the ATO asked me to re-check my account details (a whole two numbers - my account number and bsb number), the ATO has finally confirmed (now, October 1 2010), that they have been experiencing problems, and need to issue a cheque.

This is difficult given my new location, and my accountant will have to receive the cheque and forward payment to me via EFT.

Great system ATO! Keep up with the spinning - it installs great faith!

Lodged online on the 14th July, was escalate 3 times then moved to the highest priority 3 times after that...?!?! Have put in 2 complaints but no contact from anyone yet. Was told each time that there are no issues or problems with my return & refund was just waiting to be released.
The call centre actually has no access to tax reurns and is designed to put people off for a bit longer in the hope that that particular return might get processed before the person rings again. Have been told 5 times that my return would be forwarded within 7 days ..... either outright lying or incompetence ..... neither a good reflection on the ATO.
....just rang re my last complaint and was told nothing they could do and I should just wait.

I lodged my husband's tax return July 27th with a tax agent the same one I have used for years without problem,Ato apparently only started looking at it a week later 2nd Aug since then I have made call after call after call and still no result.Been priority listed 3 times now have a learner complaints person on his case which so far has been as helpful as tits on a bull.we live in a rural area am 6 months pregnant and desperately need that money for our new arrival how long must we wait without any answers to our questions.Am stretched to the limit emotionally and financially already spending $100 on calls to 3 different department looking for our money.The ato is a joke!!! A little bit of honesty goes along way telling people there returns will be in the bank by the end off the week just trying to deflect them is outrageous.

Lodged on 25th July and still waiting! Called 8 times and was finally told that it's 'stuck' in the system and will have to be put through manually....... and we are escalating your problem but there is nothing we can do. This is ridiculous. I'm sure they are enjoying getting the interest on OUR money.

Lodged on 19th August. Escalated once. Told today that the system has flagged me due to a past insolvency - 7 years ago. I have a letter from he ATO stating I am not liable for any debt with the ATO dated 2006. What is the hold up? The call today finally at least gave me a reason. Said I should call back weekly to check on status........for how long! How hard can it be? I'm told I will be paid interest. What a joke, the few cents I will get does not help when you need the money now!!! Sorry to those who have been waiting even longer, I just needed to have a whinge.

Still waiting!!!! what else can I do I have tried everything even rang local mp today and was told by his secretary that that she doesnt think there is anything he can do it may be a federal matter WTF.Complaints guy said its stuck in the system...has been for weeks and weeks..well unstick it then.I am at the end of what was a very long rope,11 weeks now have tried everything and now I feel completely defeated.Am I that un important because thats how I feel right now.

Lodged 12 of July via etax escalated once, which I believe dies nothing. Tax return finally received 12 October.

I lodged on 16/07/10 and still no return--over 3 months later...Every time I call they say "it still requires more time for processing." What does that mean? Just process it.
What can I do to help this process along?? Anthing?

Just got a "courtesy call" from the ATO to apologise for the delay in receiving my tax refund. Could not give reason why, could not tell if I would receive it this year. Nothing. No useful information at all. How about spending the time used for a courtesy call to actually do the refund!!!!!! Better use of time i think!

Nearly 2 months waiting - 3 escalations, numerous phone calls.
Complaint now lodged. Slack public servants....um er not servants ... button pushers.

Pathetic goverment agency.

Dopey, Dopey.

No backlog? Maybe not but there is definately a computer glitch and this did not come from my mouth... This came from the ATO Phone operators whom I've had to speak to 4-5 times to get an update, which they dont give. It has been such a frustrating process as I have lodge and ATO received my very simple Tax Return on 5th August. I was not able to get through to a telephone operator until after 30th September. Called 1st October only to get "Your return requires further information..." then being connected to the operator. Operate then tells me that there is no problem with the information I provided and will esculate the issue. Also advised if still nothing is received by 18th October to call back again. 19th October came and guess what? Still nothing!!! Called ATO back with the operator telling me it will be escalted for the second time. She was not able to give me any dates, information or whatever!! Rang them on Fri 22nd October and the operator tells me it is still going through manual processing, that my return was caught up in a computer glitch back in September ra ra ra! She them continues to tell me to just wait and it was sitting in "SOMEONE'S IN TRAY!" WTH! It is now the 26th October and still nothing............ My dad has stopped working because he's in remission for the second time.... and life has been hard... why can't the ATO be honest, provide the correct information, and bloody DO THEIR JOB PROPERLY! I wonder how quickly I would get the ATO on to me when I don't pay my taxes... hence their wages?!

I lodged my return on the 3 rd july 2010. And still no refund.I ring 3 times a week and get told different things each time i ring.I have been esculated 4 times and put in a complaint and still nothing.I wish the ATO would just be truthful about the holdups and stop messing the general public around. If the Ato was a public company i would never deal with these idiots again.

Lodged my tax on the 1st September.. still waiting to this day. Paid over $200 for a good tax agent too, not happy at all.

Lodged my tax return with tax agent 8th september. After a month of waiting, my tax agent rang to see what the hold up was, she was told "oops, no reason, just siting here, no one got around to it as yet, she asked if there was a problem with my return, was told no, just no one had a look at it yet, but that it would be now escelated, but it would take at least 14 days.

Its a very simple straight forward return, I didnt work that year, I should get back 2,000 dollars back because of shares I owned that year. Very simple straight forward.

Over 14 days later, nearly 3 weeks later, taxation rang my accountant telling her that it still wasnt ready, but something wrong with their system now and they would have to do it manualy, but couldnt give my accountant a time frame at all. My accountant asked once again if their was a problem with my return, she was again told no, there was no problem with my return, just it had to be done manualy, but couldnt give a time frame as to when it would be done.

I have just baught a house in queensland and am counting on this money, need it desperately for the movers, petrol etc. After having to wait months on my last tax return I had had enough and rang to the complaints side of the ato.. fat lot that did me... after more than a week, heard from them, I had to ring, they couldnt give a reason as to why it was being held up, but was reasured it was being seen to and was again escalated, few more days, 18th november... was told that there was a hold up now, that they had to check something.....sighhhh....it goes on.. i made my own calls today 19th november to the taxation office, after speaking to 3 different people, them accidently hanging up on me while on hold, was told it was again escalated, they couldnt tell me what they are checking on, and no time frame either. Going to make a few calls tomorrow, then if still no joy for me, am going to make a complaint with the commonwealth ombudsman.

This is a joke, it seems to me, feels as if now that I have made a complaint that the taxation office actualy is LOOKING for a reason as to NOT give me MY money and will hold it as long as they like. Seems they can do what they like, keep what isnt theirs for as long as they like.

Fricken fed up

ITS BULLPOO !!!!!!!!
I HAVE BEEN WAITING MONTHS AT LEAST 3 TO CONSTENTLY BE TOLD THEY DONT KNOW WHEN IT WILL BE DONE.
RING BACK NEXT WEEK THEY SAY.
NOW I HAVE PUT IN A COMPLAINT IT SEEMS TO JUST KEEP ESCALATING TO THE NEXT LEVEL.THEY HAVE MORE LEVELS THAN A SKYSCRAPER.
ABSOLUTE BLOODY LIARS!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

just give everybody what they are owed that will solve the problem

Why is it that if we are late with putting our tax information in, they can fineup us incredibly, even put us out of business... even though small business being so busy without thousands of office workers to call upon have legitimate reasons for not keeping up with the work.... yet if they are late we can do nothing?

I logged my tax claim on the 7/7/10 and am STILL waiting - I have wrote a complaint to the ATO at which they advised they would reply within 3 days, well needless to say it's well over 3 days now and still not a word from them!!
First it was 14 days from the 7/7/10, then was told it was pulled in for a random audit and could take up to 12 weeks, then at the start of November I was told they would have it escalated and that they require a further 14 days but guess what? Nearly a month later STILL NO REFUND! It's honestly the most basic simple claim, no extra expenses, nothing, just a plan and simple tax refund.
If the shoe was on the other foot, they'd have an arrest out for me! I can't believe we have no rights, we just had to sit and wait.

Did my tax myself. Sent by snail mail. received money in bank account two weeks later. So the odd return is finding its way through on time.

So what can we do about this? Can we take legal action. I had my return checked by another accountant, it's water tight. Nothing they could even say was fraud. I have been waiting for 64 days. I waited to file until September to avoid the problems, so much for that plan.

Has anyone spoken to a lawyer? Can we claim from the ATO? Who is the best person to contact in the ATO to try and move things along?

To everybody iam still waiting for my tax return from the 2008/2009 called tax office no reply was told by the tax office that even if lodge a complaint nothing will happen for 2009/2010 still wating since july dont worry guy this country is finished bring back John Howard and Peter Costello

my boyfriend hasn't had a tax return for about 10 years now....he has back child support, he thought it was going to the kids mom, but he found out that she hasn't been getting it....so, where is his refund checks going to??????how can he find out where his refund check is going for or what??????

What a load of crap!!!!!!!
I lodged mine with an agent on the 25/11/10. It is now the 14/03/11 and have still not got my return. I have put pressure on the agent and they said it was to be released by the ATO last week. No sign of my money as of yet. Total b0((ox

this is bull*&%# been waiting 26 days they owe me thousands tried to claim hardship but was told would take between 7 &14 days whats the point now im going to be evicted because i have no income,2 kids what the hell is going on with you people.nothing but ass@#$%* last time i had adebt they threaten to send me to jail,is anyone going to be accountable for what happens to me and my kids now,this is why people go off tap.

lodged my application on the 7th of july. 3 weeks later I've got a notice of assesment. Found out last monday that I am actually deceased. I sent proof of financial hardship three times: wednesday and friday last week, I called on monday to see if they came through and operator told me that I was given the wrong number. sent it again. still hasn't come through. today I received official letter notifying me that my assesor has been appointed. called her and just voicemail answered. I left her a message. Tomorrow is a new day, first thing to do, just like the past week - call ATO. Just needed to get this off my chest coz I know nobody is reading it anyway

In ATO database I am still deceased, so there are big chances this is a message from beyoud the grave. Accountant told me to take picture with today's newspaper to prove I'm alive and kickin'. Just waiting for the right fax number to send it through coz so far finantial hardship proofs vanished into thin air apparently

well done my tax myself mailed in a express post envelope so it would arrive there the next day.its been almost 4 weeks since then.i rang the tax department and they havent even processed it yet. every other time ive done my tax ive got my tax return in 3 to 4 weeks so i dont know wot there doing?

Everyone I know has their's back. This happened to me last year also. They hold it right up untill the last minute. They can't tell you anything. Going to get it done privately from now on. Why have people on the phone when they can't tell you anything except "it's still in the 32 day period & if you don't have it back after 32 days we can hold it for a further 14 days" A machine can tell us that.

I lodged my tax in Mid August and i am still waiting !
I do not know how a simple tax return such as mine would take this long .I have never waited this long before !

Glad I'm in no hurry for it but it will be nice to get it soon !

10th of July- still waiting, thanks ATO. I should just set up a "not for profit organization" and pay no tax.. All infrastructure tax is included in all costs eg milk/bread. Why do we have to pay for past war debts? Thanks for enslaving us big cheers ATO

Lodged mine in August and still waiting. Supposed to have been escalated to the highest priority. What a load of crap. whats going on, it would be nice to know. I am needing the money it has become desperate now

Lodge My husband tax in Oct 2011 Still waiting was pull out for random audit 12 weeks up this week told it could be another 8 weeks CRAP ATO

Hi guys... I screwed up with my tax return. I claimed for spouse return when I didn't have any spouse. That was back in Sept 2011. I got a letter in October saying that they will get back to me with 12 weeks time. I got a call on 27th of November and since I was busy at work, they left me a voice mail. The guy pretty much said that he was from ATO office and my tax return is being audited. I know I have done a biggest mistake and I am ready to pay any penalty. It's just that I am not sure how to proceed from now on. Got advice from H&R block and they have asked me to give ATO a call back.
I am ready to take the slap on the wrist. I just need your advice/experience before I can call ATO. What should I tell them? Should I just say that I f%*ked up my tax return and ready to pay the penalty? Please advice. Thanks.

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