ATO provides update on lodgements impacted by outage
The ATO has assured tax professionals impacted by the systems outage on Tuesday that clients that had lodgement or payment obligations on 5 June, which included some SMSFs, will not be subject to penalties, provided lodgement is made by 11 June.
On Tuesday, the ATO’s online systems experienced an unplanned outage which affected its tax professionals portals, online service for agents, PLS service and superannuation services.
The outage occurred a day before 5 June, which is the lodgement deadline for SMSFs that are eligible for certain lodgement concessions. This applies to funds that are non-taxable or received a refund for the latest year lodged and are non-taxable or will receive a refund in the current year.
For SMSFs that lodge their transfer balance account reports (TBAR) annually, the report is also due on the same day as their annual return.
In an online update, the ATO said the system issues may have affected its ability to meet their clients’ lodgement or payment obligations for the 5 June concessional arrangement.
“Your clients will not be subject to penalties, interest or follow-up action providing lodgement is made by 11 June 2019. You do not need to lodge a deferral application,” the ATO stated.
The ATO said a lodgement deferral will be applied to all tax returns with a lodgement due date of 15 May 2019 that have not already been lodged.
“A payment deferral to 11 June 2019 will be applied to companies and super funds. Individuals and trusts should pay any liabilities by the date specified on their notice of assessment.”
Miranda Brownlee
Miranda Brownlee is the deputy editor of SMSF Adviser, which is the leading source of news, strategy and educational content for professionals working in the SMSF sector.
Since joining the team in 2014, Miranda has been responsible for breaking some of the biggest superannuation stories in Australia, and has reported extensively on technical strategy and legislative updates.
Miranda also has broad business and financial services reporting experience, having written for titles including Investor Daily, ifa and Accountants Daily.