Nothing beats the stress brought about by late tax refunds. If you are counting on refund money to help deal with an urgent matter, consider going for a different option.
Regarding refunds, various methods and papers might cause a delay or quick processing to be sent to your bank account.
If done online, processing your refund may take the Australian Tax Office (ATO) 10-30 days.
How long does it take to get a tax refund take in Australia?
Sometimes, a tax refund takes forever, and other times, it may be as quick as possible.
To avoid disappointment, it’s advised not to put all your hopes on it since you may never know how long it will take to be processed.
The days depend on how many documents you must submit to ATO. Here are the specific number of days it may take your return to be processed accordingly;
- Simple online return: The refund will take ten business working days to be processed.
- Complex online return: If your tax refund is complex and done online, it may take you a waiting period of 30 working business days for it to be processed.
- Paper return: If the process is done through the paper format, the days it will take for you to receive a refund are 50 business working days.
What are the factors that might affect processing time of tax refunds?
Based on how the workload of the ATO system, it might take longer for a tax refund to be processed.
The waiting period given by the ATO may vary due to various reasons including the complexity of your returns or the ATO system.
Some of the reasons your tax refunds may be late include;
- Paper lodgment, takes about approximately ten weeks(50 days) business working days to be processed.
- The process is complex and it may take an individual a number of documents and details to fill. This may happen because some may have multiple income sources and investments, among others needed for verification purposes.
- Slow down by the ATO machines given during the tax period hours. The slowdown may be experienced mostly during tax filing periods and may slow down its functionality.
How to calculate your tax refund
When calculating tax refunds, mainly use an online tax refund calculator to input your income and other relevant financial information.
Once you have completed the inputs and ensured that you have provided all the necessary, correct information, you will receive the estimated tax refund in your account.
How to check the status of your tax return
Checking to see the progress of your refund is reasonable, given you need to be able to tell how far or how much longer you’ve been waiting for.
To get the status, you need to log in to the ATO’s my GOV portal and provide your details to log in. Through the website, you will see how far along your processes are.
Wrapping up
Not all taxes are meant to be refunded. Others are non-refundable tax offsets, such as the low-income tax offset, which may reduce your tax liability but will not lead you to a tax refund if you don’t owe any tax.
Note: You can’t claim a fee if you associate your taxes with an unregistered tax agent.
