Yahoo Finance ATO scraps tax returns for up to 1.4 million taxpayers
Up to 1.4 million taxpayers may be allowed to skip doing their tax returns from July 1 this year.
The federal budget, which will be released on May 13, is expected to include a switch to "tick and flick" tax returns in order to reduce red tape, according to a report in the Australian Financial Review.
The move to streamline reporting comes in the wake of the ATO's latest tax statistics, which showed that taxpayers spent 4.6 hours filling in their returns – or paid an average of $371 to hire a professional.
Related: ATO launches amnesty for offshore tax evaders
Wage and salary earners with bank interest, dividends and straightforward deductions will be able to "pull" their tax return by July 1.
The tax returns will reportedly be sent out to taxpayers with details such as income earned, tax paid, Medicare claims, bank interest, shares and dividends already completed for them.
As a next step, the Treasury is considering the introduction of "no touch" tax returns, which will use information from property agents and stockbrokers to track capital gains.
Under the current regime, taxpayers must declare that the information pre-filled by the ATO's systems is accurate and complete.
The change would allow them to accept the ATO's assessed refund without having to take any action.
Related: ATO working on deal for rich to come clean
The budget is also set to feature Treasurer Joe Hockey's proposal to send each taxpayer an itemised, personalised breakdown of how their tax dollars were spent.
One of Mr Hockey's campaign promises, the tax receipt will show how much money was spent on welfare, health, education, defence and other spending.
