ATO issues urgent warning to nearly 300,000 Aussies as it begins recovery of money owed
Treasurer Jim Chalmers has defended the tax office because nearly 300,000 Australians must pay back debts they may not have known they owed.
Australia’s tax authorities have reactivated the debts of 290,000 Australians who had been granted temporary amnesty during the summer 2020 bushfires and later during the Covid lockdowns.
This will leave many Australians with smaller tax returns, or even owe the tax office money, after Labor scrapped the low- and middle-income tax deduction that provided $1,500 in relief.
Dr. Chalmers has defended the tax office with many people who would be wrong during a cost-of-living crisis.
“It is clear that the IRS is doing everything it can to make sure people are complying with the tax system, but trying to provide as much information as possible while these steps are being taken,” he said Monday.
Australia’s tax authorities have reactivated the debts of 290,000 Australians who had been amnestied during the summer 2020 bushfires and later during the Covid lockdowns (pictured is a Centrelinkj queue on the Gold Coast)
“Of course I’m not going to criticize the important work that the ATO does.”
Dr. Chalmers said he had also received a briefing from Australian Revenue Commissioner Chris Jordan.
“I know, speaking to the Commissioner and others in the ATO, when they are doing this necessary work, they are trying to do it in the most sensitive way possible,” he said.
“I expect that to continue.”
The tax debts that were suspended in 2020 were reactivated from July 2022, meaning they would be reflected in the 2022-23 tax returns.
A spokeswoman for the Australian Revenue Service confirmed that the end of debt deferral would affect 290,000 people this financial year.
Tax returns must be filed no later than October 31 if the person files them, or May 15 for those going through an accountant.
Labor in government scrapped the coalition’s low- and middle-income tax offset, which provided a tax credit of up to $1,500 for those earning up to $126,000.
Until June 2022, those earning $48,000 to $90,000 were entitled to a $1,080 tax credit and a $420 one-time living allowance.
That means those filing tax returns for 2022-23 will not get this exemption and will have to wait for the phase three tax cuts to take effect on July 1, 2024.
However, Dr Chalmers has ruled out raising GST from its current 10 per cent level following a call from the Business Council of Australia.
Treasurer Jim Chalmers has defended the tax office as nearly 300,000 Australians must pay back debts they may not have known they owed
“That’s one of the things we’re not in agreement with the BCA about – we have no plans or any intention to change the rate of GST and I think I’ve made that clear on other occasions,” he said. .
This is despite confirmation that he agreed with most of their suggestions published in a new report Monday.
“There’s so much more we agree on with the BCA than we disagree on,” he said.
The Business Council of Australia, representing millionaire CEOs, is campaigning for the Voice to Parliament alongside Prime Minister Anthony Albanese.