ATO apologises for online tax glitches

YOU had one job, ATO. People are trying to lodge their tax returns, and they’re running into an infuriating problem.

YOU had one job, ATO.

It seems an entire year hasn’t been enough for the Australian Taxation Office to prepare its online systems, which appear to have collapsed under the weight of traffic, leaving users unable to lodge their tax returns.

Many users who have been unable to access MyTax and MyGov since Wednesday turned to social media to express their frustration.

As of 10.30 AEST Thursday, both systems were experiencing difficulties, although a link to download the 2015 eTax program has now been updated after confusion yesterday.

A spokesman for the ATO told news.com.au: “We’ve been working through the night to resolve our systems issues and apologise for any inconvenience. We’ll be keeping the community updated through social media.”

@ato_gov_au @N8d0gg7 it's 925pm ... still experiencing technical issues. So unacceptable 😨

— Richwell Hizon (@Richw3ll) July 2, 2015

surge in traffic to ATO website on July 1 'likely' due to end of financial year pic.twitter.com/wqtN5xkjOP

— abraham and You (@pleasedontatme) July 2, 2015

Online lodgements are coming in, but our systems are running slow. Looking for mytax or e-tax? Visit https://t.co/gXB3YSrLOL

— ato.gov.au (@ato_gov_au) July 2, 2015

Our systems are still running a little slow. We’re working to fix as a priority & will provide another update @ 4:30pm AEST

— ato.gov.au (@ato_gov_au) July 2, 2015

We’ve worked through the night to implement a system fix. There's still ongoing issues which we're working on. We'll let you know more soon.

— ato.gov.au (@ato_gov_au) July 2, 2015

We are still experiencing some systems issues. We're working to resolve this as quickly as possible & apologise for any inconvenience.

— ato.gov.au (@ato_gov_au) July 1, 2015

@ato_gov_au Really? pic.twitter.com/rdl22yb5sT

— peita (@peitaballerina) July 2, 2015

On Facebook, users reported glitches using eTax. “I’ve been trying for two days to log into my account, which tells me my passwords are wrong,” one person wrote.

“I’ve then tried several times to create a new account and I still cannot get into it. What is the point in creating this online portal when you cannot even access it? Get your stuff sorted — it’s bloody frustrating!”

Another wrote: “I have started to lodge through eTax but it won’t input/prefill data from my HECS and other things due to the ATO website being down, which will impact my outcome. Not sure it is worth my time to continue.”

@N8d0gg7 Phone us on 13 28 61 Option 5 between 8am and 10pm (local time) Monday to Friday, and between 10am and 4pm (local time), Saturday

— ato.gov.au (@ato_gov_au) July 2, 2015