australian taxation office

Australian Taxation Office Online Tax Return Creates Problems for Student Visa Taxpayers

ATO FAIL. The online form does not properly address the requirements for students from overseas. All is fine until you get to the Medicare Levy Exemption page. 

Answer the questions thus:

Were you in one of the following exemption categories? Yes

Full 2% exemption - 365 days

Were you a temporary resident for Medicare purposes and have Medicare Entitlement Statement from the Department of Human Services?

- No

Were you and all of your dependants covered by an appropriate level of private patient hospital cover from 1 July 2014 to 30 June 2015?

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Warning: Australian Taxation Office deception over e-tax: Don't use e-tax for your return, use myTax!

The ATO has taken upon itself to semi-privatise the tax return process without bothering to warn taxpayers. On its website, it states: "We offer two free, convenient and secure ways to lodge your own tax return online - myTax and e-tax."

2014 is the first year that the only way to lodge is online - the old paper forms are no longer available. Therefore, millions of Australian taxpayers are going to be deceived by this. You could almost call it an ATO scam.

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