Census - 9 August 2016

Now the ATO site is down. Found that out because I was going to do my taxes today. Can log into the My Gov site but that's it. Damn.....

Good side - I'll have to pay tax so in no hurry.

Bad side - today was a convenient time to do it.

Smurf1976 said:

Now the ATO site is down. Found that out because I was going to do my taxes today.

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I don't usually get annoyed about technical things failing but this is a bit ridiculous.

They insist that a tax return be done, want people to do it online and it has to be done by the end of October. So I set aside time to do it and then these clowns take the entire website down for more than a day for "planned maintenance". I'm guessing they didn't think of backup systems?

NBN, Census and now tax. I'm spotting a pattern here....

It must be part of the grand plan for Australia's economy. Create jobs in the Post Office and printing industries by making sure that anything online doesn't work. Did the Liberals do a deal with the posties' union or something?

Rant over.

I know. I have always done my taxes directly but they have made it too painful this year so I have gone through an accountant. Pathetic.

Be careful that you actually connect to the tax office site as opposed to middle man accountancy firms using things like "ETax.xxx".

Anyone today trying to lodge their tax return through myGov ?

I've got that sinking feeling the Census bug has struck.

EDIT: After several minutes, the myGov login page has finally loaded.

Not much of a glimmer of hope I'm afraid. I couldn't get beyond the log in page. I'll try again later but as a backup, I've organised a short extension to submit through the ATO.

drsmith said:

Not much of a glimmer of hope I'm afraid. I couldn't get beyond the log in page. I'll try again later but as a backup, I've organised a short extension to submit through the ATO.

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in my first trial, midweek 10Am, the site was down for maintenance;
we got from a best of breed etax downloadable software (up to last year) to the online crap we have now requiring endless login, password etc, no surprise productivity is falling in Oz with progress like that.....

qldfrog said:

in my first trial, midweek 10Am, the site was down for maintenance;
we got from a best of breed etax downloadable software (up to last year) to the online crap we have now requiring endless login, password etc, no surprise productivity is falling in Oz with progress like that.....

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I gave it one more go just after my above post and was successful logging on, preparation and submitting.

The detail that one gets now before (and after) submitting is much leaner than the information that could be printed just prior to submitting with eTax. An estimate of refund was all I got so there was no way to check it against all the components that go into the calculation. Hopefully the Notice of Assessment will be more revealing in this regard.

drsmith said:

I gave it one more go just after my above post and was successful logging on, preparation and submitting.

The detail that one gets now before (and after) submitting is much leaner than the information that could be printed just prior to submitting with eTax. An estimate of refund was all I got so there was no way to check it against all the components that go into the calculation. Hopefully the Notice of Assessment will be more revealing in this regard.

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Indeed more and less a black box: enter figures et voila, and far less knowledge on what was giving you benefits or penalties; the less informed the masses, the easier it gets to harvest/screw them..
But sometimes masses rebel: a la Trump/Brexit....

It's getting worse.
No need to start a new thread, even though my latest gripe is not Census-related, but concerns the latest stuff-up by the ATO, just like the more recent posts above.

Running a small business, I'm obliged to submit my quarterly BAS (Business Activity Statement, for the uninitiated.) That can only be done through the Business Portal with some terribly secure piece of software, called the "Auskey". So you direct your browser to this portal website, click on Login, find your company details, and type in the password. Used to work like a charm. The numbers come pre-crunched out of my accounting software, so all it takes is transfer some figures into G1 to G14, calculate, transfer, submit.

Except in early January, when the Login refused to show me my Auskey. And I'm definitely NOT mixing company biz with myGov, especially as that is still in Beta test.
The Help links from the failing Login page are utterly hopeless: They send you round and round in circles, but fail to tell you the simple truth: Logging in with the Auskey is no longer working with the Firefox browser!
While that is mentioned in one of the help pages, the advice there says you need to download and install an Auskey extension/ plugin. Problem: When I tried that, Firefox crashed because the extension looked for the Auskey data in the wrong place.

Long story short: Called ATO helpline, who checked that the Auskey was still in its proper place, but that's all they would do. For a fix, I had to call another number - outsourced to Manila, of course. Nice girl, and I don't blame her at all for the cute accent that had me guess most of the time as to the nature of her question, let alone the instructions. After half an hour (including the waiting time during which I was repeatedly told to search for the right answer at ATO's help pages) I had found out that the only way to login was by using the Google Chrome browser, make sure the Auskey plugin is enabled in that one, and "Robert is one of your parents' siblings."

Does anyone know to which Government Department I should send the invoice for a total of 7 hours wasted? Their IT Eggspurts can't maintain software functionality and don't have a clue how to add a simple one-liner to the first error page, stating
"Sorry, we couldn't get our program to run in Firefox. Please download and install Google Chrome with xxx extension. That'll work."

pixel said:

"Sorry, we couldn't get our program to run in Firefox. Please download and install Google Chrome with xxx extension. That'll work."

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I had the same problem some time ago. Funny enough - I don't think it worked on google chrome before and I had to use a different browser.

ATO has all the money in the world and this terrible piece of programming is the best they could come up with.

pixel said:

And I'm definitely NOT mixing company biz with myGov, especially as that is still in Beta test.

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I had the same problem last year running on Safari and I bit the bullet and started using my MyGov login. It has worked like a charm since (though I do not do BAS, just PAYG and Company Tax).

Although it might appear that you are mixing company and personal, I don't think it is as nefarious as it might appear. If I remember correctly (when I did once have AUSKEY successfully working), didn't you need to provide the personal tax file number of the designated person that could use AUSKEY as a means of identifying him/her (at least in the set up stage)? So they already have that link between the company and you (assuming you are the designated person). All MyGov does is allow the designated person to now access the Government Business Portal using the MyGov login associated with the designated person's tax file number instead of having to use AusKey). I don't think they know anything more than they knew before.

This may be one of those times when it is better to go with the flow rather than fight them.

bellenuit said:

This may be one of those times when it is better to go with the flow rather than fight them.

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Thanks Belle,
no, I don;t want to fight them. And it's not about my TFN either - of course they know. I doubt though whether an individual can use myGov for Business reporting. It may come one day, but right now, the myGov option on the BAS login is clearly marked as "Beta", implying that may not be working either.

pixel said:

Thanks Belle,
no, I don;t want to fight them. And it's not about my TFN either - of course they know. I doubt though whether an individual can use myGov for Business reporting. It may come one day, but right now, the myGov option on the BAS login is clearly marked as "Beta", implying that may not be working either.

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I'm not sure I understand what you mean by business reporting. I actually have a company (Pty Ltd) and I use my personal MyGov login to get to the business portal where I can pay the company PAYG and TAX and see the balances in the respective accounts. It says Beta for me too, but it works for the tasks I perform. I think, but I am not sure, that once you are in, everything is identical. It's just how you get in that is different; AUSKEY or MyGov login. It is not something new within the MyGov personal tax area. You still go to bp.gov.ato.au, but when you try to log in, it will offer you the choice of using your MyGov credentials. (Actually, it is no longer a choice for me. The only method offered is MyGov, but that may be because I have no AusKey set up)