NEWS Fastest way to bungle tax

sophie.elsworth@news.com.au

CASH- STRAPPED Australians rushing to lodge their tax returns are making simple mistakes that are slowing down the processing of their returns.

The Australian Taxation Office’s website crashed this month after a record number of people lodged returns.

It is understood 230,000 applications were received in the first two days of July compared with 165,000 for the same time last year.

The ATO’s assistant commissioner Karen Foat urged eager Australians to take their time before filing because many were making errors that hold up processing.

“A lot of people who have rushed in to lodge early have left out income such as employment income, bank interest, private health insurance and JobKeeper and JobSeeker,” she said.

“That information is generally ready by the end of July and we tell people who are lodging before then to make sure that information is in there.”

The ATO has been inundated with people struggling financially who are lodging their returns and also others applying to access their superannuation early.

From July 1 through until September 24 eligible Australians can access another $10,000 from their super accounts if they have suffered significant income loss or been made redundant this year.

Ms Foat said other tax errors included not updating bank details, which can cause significant delays in getting money back.

H & R Block’s director of communications Mark Chapman urged people to delay filing their tax return until all their information was available.

“The best advice is to generally wait until the second half of July at the earliest if you can,” he said.

Some people were also incorrectly calculating the new 80 cents per hour rule for working from home. “This rate is all-inclusive so if you are claiming that, you cannot claim any other working from home expenses,” she said.