Taxpayers find tax system ‘too complex’

A report published by the Association of Chartered Certified Accountants, Perspectives on Fair Tax, has found that some Australian taxpayers see our tax system as too complex with high taxes and high compliance costs.

Etax accountants director, Scott Griffin, said this finding was concerning as some taxpayers now avoid lodging their returns.

“The average taxpayer works hard for their money and enjoys living in Australia. They want to pay the right amount of tax but not have it cost an arm and a leg,” he said.

According to Etax accountants, some taxpayers mistakenly believe they save money by submitting their tax return using the free ATO software or the paper Tax Pack. However, to submit a correct tax return and minimise tax requires detailed knowledge of Australian tax law. Griffin said free tax return software was good for those who understood tax, but detrimental to those who did not as they could end up paying incorrect amounts of tax and potentially incurring tax penalties.

Grittifth said the industry needs to examine compliance costs to help taxpayers save money and better understand how the system works.