ATO says most Australians can now submit their tax return

Most taxpayers can now lodge their tax returns, as more than 80 million pieces of information are available in pre-fill.

The Australian Taxation Office said much of the information it collects from employers, banks, private health insurers, share registries and other institutions has now been loaded into people’s tax returns.

“While having this data ready to go cuts down time, taxpayers still need to check that their details are accurate and ensure any other information that hasn’t been pre-filled is manually added,” according to the ATO.

“For example, income from rentals, side hustles and the Pandemic Leave Disaster Payment from Services Australia will need to be manually added.”

Your employer will provide an income statement or payment summary that shows the amounts received and the tax withheld. If you had more than one employer during the 2021-22 financial year, you will have more than one income statement.

Before lodging, make sure your income statement is marked as ‘Tax ready‘ by your employer.

Once you’ve lodged, you can monitor the progress of your tax return through ATO online services, the ATO app or by phone.