FAO/ATO and tax time reconcilliation
posted this in another thread but thought it might be an idea to post it on it's own so that the reconciliation process might make a bit more sense.
for those that have queried ftb supplements and delays to their payments (both ato and ftb) being delivered, i have posted this in a few places but i'll add it here
when your acual taxable income (ATI) is calculated at the ATO, it is sent to FAO for reconciling. now, IF you process your payment well before your hubby, it will go through and there will be no delat. if it happens at same time or after, the following happens
ATI is sent to FAO, reconcilliation occurs. FTB supplements etc are processed and set up as pending on the system
the result is sent to ATO
now, there is no point paying you supplements if you owe the tax office (given supplements are a TAX payment) - same as now tax return will be generated if you owe the commonwealth via Family Assistance
so, you FAO reco result is sent to ATO - if you are due money from both ATO and FAO, the ATO computers say "thanks very much", send the info back to FAO, ATO delivers your income tax return (ITR) and, when the result comes back to FAO, FAO delivers your reco result
if you are owed FAO payments, but OWE ATO, the result is different. ATO computers see that you have money owed to you by FAO, they TAKE the amount owing for your ITR to be zeroed (if possible) or take it all if tax debt is higher than reco amount. the BALANCE is sent back to FAO, and if there is an amount still owing to you, it will be delivered. if there isn't enough FAO to pay out your ITR debt, you will be sent a bill from ATO
if you OWE FAO, but are owed an amount for your ITR by ATO, the info that reaches ATO asks that ATO covers any debt owed to FAO - if there is enough ITR to cover your FAO debt, it will be sent back to FAO with a nil result, you'll be sent a letter outlining this, and then you will get the balance of your ITR sent to you. if there isn't enough ITR to cover your FAO debt, you will be sent a bill from FAO
this all takes a bit of time (and can/will often hold up the FAO parents tax return/notice of assesment being delivered)
now, on top of that, there are some "circumstances" that trigger additional investigation which has to be manually done by a consultant. it's hard to know exactly what will trigger these investigations - sometimes if you have estimated very high and have a very low income, it will trigger it. being partnered/seperated/partnered or whatever during the financial year, returning to work for the first time since the birth of a child etc. the team that actions these is not big - they are only required at this time of year so are otherwise trained and work elsewhere during the rest of the year. at this time, they are needed for both processing these activities, but also needed on the phones (how many people are getting engaged tone when they try to contact FAO atm??). they churn through these activities as quickly as they can, but during this time, sometimes reconcilliation takes a backseat to dealing with IMMEDIATE customer needs. this can delay reconcilliation (and may cause hold ups with ATO - i'm not sure how much it impacts tax returns - but i'm guessing if your reconcilliation results are being held up then your ATO results may be as well)
this is why you will be told, if you call, that reco will take up to two weeks after you receive your Notice of Assessment (NOA) from the ATO. before then, it is within normal processing time frames. if it goes beyond that, it becomes reasonable to chase it up (before then, you will be told politely that there is nothing that can be done)
the mutual customer link between ATO and FAO generally isn't established until Mid July. all ITR's processed prior to that date are queued to be delivered later. once the link was established for this financial year, the normal daily flow of results was established, and everything from before that date had to be delivered over a period of time (couldn't deliver a couple of weeks worth of info at once). it takes time and is causing delays for early lodgers
why am i outlining all this - i have this hope/theory that people may read this and not call up before necessary. there is a MONSTROUS call volume at the moment - the phone lines are being blocked before 9am daily as there are just too many calls coming in - asking the same question over and over (not saying it applies to anyone here, but it is happening) - and people with current needs that should be able to be dealt with simply aren't getting through. maybe if 10 people read this and it all makes sense, 10 people won't call up when there is nothing that can be done for them right now kwim??
