In a welcome development, the ATO has listened to the complaints of taxpayers and their practitioners and will be temporarily scrapping the changes to the communication of PAYG instalments. The current December quarter was the first quarter impacted by these changes, which removed many taxpayers from receiving a paper copy in the post of their quarterly instalment and forced them to check and/or sign up to a myGov account to access this information.

The ATO has recognised there has been considerable resistance to this change, primarily as tax agents and accountants are unable to clearly identify which clients are impacting. As such, there are worries many taxpayers will receive late lodgement notices and penalties as a result of not knowing how to access their instalment information.

The ATO will revert back to the paper communication method in March but has indicated it will look to re-introduce this digital change in the foreseeable future. In the meantime, if you are unsure whether you have a December PAYG instalment, we urge you to check your myGov account and/or contact your accountant.