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The ATO has provided its end-of-year deadlines and key dates for practitioners as it approaches the annual closure period for 2021.
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ATO provides end-of-year deadlines ahead of annual closure
09 December 2021
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The ATO offices will close for the festive season at midday Friday, 24 December 2021 and reopen on Tuesday, 4 January 2022.
The ATO said it is planning to undertake system maintenance from 11.30pm Monday, 27 December 2021 to 7.00am Tuesday, 4 January 2022 AEDT.
“Online Services for Agents (OSFA), Australian Business Register (ABR), Australian Business Registry Services (ABRS) online, Standard Business Reporting (SBR) including the Practitioner Lodgment Service (PLS) and Single Touch Payroll (STP), and other online services will be unavailable during this time,” the ATO said.
The operational dashboards will be available to check real-time system availability.
The ATO’s technical help desk will be available during 24 December – 7.00am to 12.00am AEDT and 28-31 December – 7.00am to 12.00am AEDT.
Contact centres will be closed from midday Friday, 24 December 2021 and will reopen at 8.00am on Tuesday, 4 January 2022.
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For lodgement, the ATO reminded that lodging as early as possible will give time to process clients’ returns, activity statements or other forms before it closes.
“While we will endeavour to process as many returns as possible, returns or activity statements lodged on or after 17 December 2021 are less likely to be finalised before the closure,” the ATO explained.
“We know you are working hard to support your clients as they come out of the pandemic. As you know, even if they cannot pay on time, it is still important to keep their lodgements current.
“Doing so will help ensure they will know their true financial position, will have kept good records, and access to key support measures including the cashflow boost are dependent on lodgements being met.
“If you, or your clients, feel overwhelmed or you are behind with your lodgement program, we can help. Contact us as early as possible to discuss your situation. We have a range of options to support you, including many available through Online Services for Agents.”
The ATO reminded that all lodgement program deferrals requested and processed after 17 December 2021 will not appear on the client’s record until the new year. However, agents can be assured that once processed, the effective date of the deferral will be the date as requested.
Other key dates to remember
Processing cut-off dates for the Small Business Superannuation Clearing House are also coming up as the ATO approaches its annual office closure.
Key dates to be aware of are all super guarantee (SG) payments received after close of business on 15 December 2021, will be processed from 4 January 2022 and SG quarterly payments are due on 28 January 2022.
The ATO will send its last tax return status email, which reports the actions it is taking when processing clients’ tax returns, in the week commencing 13 December 2021. These emails will resume on 10 January 2022.
For country-by-country reporting lodgement, a lodgement deferral is available for country-by-country reporting entities that are December balancers and have CBC reporting obligation due by 31 December 2021.
Meanwhile for news alerts, tax professionals alert emails will not issue during the office closure. Agents will need to check the operational dashboards for real-time system information.
“Our last Tax professionals newsletter for 2021 (both the tax agent and BAS agent editions) will issue on 15 December. The first edition for 2022 will be on 19 January,” the ATO explained.
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