Last Wednesday (03 April 2013), the Australian Tax Office (ATO) announced they will no longer issue an annual statement for Australians with a HELP or Financial Supplement debt.

Apart from making it harder to keep track of your outstanding government debts, these changes make it harder for you to estimate your expected compulsory repayment amount on your tax return.

Fortunately, there are still a couple of ways to get an updated balance on your HELP account…

1. Contact your tax agent (eg. Etax Accountants)

Your tax agent can get a current balance of your HELP account from the ATO.

At Etax Accountants, acting as your tax agent, we can also work out an estimate of your compulsory repayment on this year’s return. If you’d like our help with this, please simply send us an email onadmin@etax.com.au.

2. Contact the ATO yourself

If you prefer, you can call the ATO on 13 28 61 between 8:00am and 6:00pm, Monday to Friday and ask them for details about your account.

What does this mean for my tax return?

When lodging your tax return this year, you don’t need your HELP debt information directly on hand. If you use Etax Accountants (Etax.com.au), our tax team can access this information for you and provide an estimate of your compulsory repayment, if needed.

When you prepare for this year’s tax return, please remember that the ATO will not send you an updated annual statement of your HELP or Financial Supplement balance. If you want to know this amount, you need to ask your tax agent to retrieve this information for you or contact the ATO directly.

Please don’t hesitate to contact us on admin@etax.com.au if you have any questions about this change or if you’d like further information on your outstanding balance.