ATO website crashes as Aussies rush to access $10,000 in superannuation savings
The Australian Taxation Office website has crashed after a huge rush of cash-strapped Australians rushed to apply to withdraw another $10,000 in superannuation.
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The rush of cash-strapped people rushing to access their superannuation early has crashed the Australian Taxation Office website.
Applications to withdraw a second amount of $10,000 from super accounts opened on Wednesday but the high volumes has caused the system to stop operating.
On the ATO’s website it has apologised for the convenience and late on Wednesday night confirmed they will be limiting the number of people who can access their online services.
“This disruption was the result of a small component failure which reduced the capacity for processing these matters,” the ATO said in an online statement on their website.
“We have identified the area of the system that has failed and are in the process of replacing this component as quickly as possible.
“As our technicians work to fix the issue we have temporarily reduced the number of people who can access our online services for individuals.”
For now some users will still be able to access the ATO’s online services without any problems while others will receive a message asking them to try again later.
It comes after the Australian Prudential and Regulation Authority warned there could be delays to the processing of applications because of the rush expected as many take up the second opportunity to get cash quickly.
They said “high volumes” are expected in the first week of July and “this may impact the processing time for payments being made by the funds”.
Since the scheme became available in April 2.2 million applications have been approved by the Australian Taxation Office and $18.5 billion has been withdrawn.
The average amount accessed per person is about $8400.
APRA said it can take up to four business days for the ATO to process an application once it’s received, then an additional five business days for the fund to review the application and prepare it for payment.
Once these steps are completed and approved the money then is transferred into the applicant’s bank account.
APRA said 95 per cent of applications already received since April had been processed within five days of receiving them.
But latest figures from Industry Super Australia showed about 395,000 Australians aged under 35 have already wiped their entire super balances after taking up the scheme.
The figures are based on ATO data and proportions by age of those with accounts below $10,000.
ISA says on average about 15 per cent of Australian workers have accessed their retirement savings prematurely and chief executive Bernie Dean said it could cause problems for many Australians come retirement.
“To have hundreds of thousands of people wiping their savings out mid way through their life is a tragedy waiting to happen and it will affect everyone,” he said.
“Every Australian deserves a good life in retirement not just scraping by on the pension.”
To ensure application for early release are processed quickly, people are being encouraged to make sure all their information entered is correct when applying through myGov.
Applicants should also ensure they have sufficient funds to withdraw and their bank details held by the ATO and their fund are up to date.
One of the nation’s largest funds Hostplus’s group executive of membership experience Paul Watson said applicants must ensure they meet eligibility requirements before applying.
“If a member meets the requirements and proceeds to make an application via myGov, it’s very important the information provided is correct, such as bank account details, to avoid unnecessary delays in their payment being processed,” he said.
“The ATO has warned that its data crossmatching capability may be used to determine if people’s applications have met the qualifying rules.”
The ATO has sent a stern warn to people applying to access their money who are not eligible that they will face severe penalties.
This could include fines of more than $12,000.
The scheme relies on applicants being honest when self-reporting their income losses or financial status on the myGov site.
Originally published as ATO website crashes as Aussies rush to access $10,000 in superannuation savings