If you can’t pay your tax on time, you may be able to set up a payment plan. This allows you to pay your tax debt in smaller amounts over time instead of all at once. It can help you stay on track and avoid firmer action.
Did your tax bill catch you off guard? We’ve explained some of the reasons why you might receive a tax bill in our expert post!
What is a payment plan?
A payment plan is an agreement with us to pay your tax debt in instalments over a set period of time. You’ll make regular payments (weekly, fortnightly or monthly) until the debt is paid off. General interest charge this opens in a new window (GIC) still applies while you’re on a payment plan, so paying it off sooner can reduce what you pay overall.
Can I set up a payment plan online?
You may be able to set up a payment plan online if you owe $200,000 or less.
If you’re:
If you have multiple accounts with overdue debts (for example, income tax and activity statement accounts), you'll need to pay them in full or set up a separate payment plan for each account.
How much should my instalments be?
To set up your payment plan you’ll need to make an up-front payment followed by regular instalments. Before setting up a plan, think about:
how much you can pay today, and
when you’ll be able to pay in full.
In addition to your payment plan instalments, you still need to:
To help reduce the amount of GIC you’ll pay, aim to pay off your payment plan in the shortest possible timeframe that fits with your circumstances.
If I have an ATO payment plan, will my tax refund be used to pay off the debt?
Yes. If you have a tax debt with us, any tax refunds or credits you’re entitled to will be used to reduce what you owe.
In some cases, we may also use credits from other government agencies to reduce your tax debt.
Keep in mind this won’t replace your required payment plan instalments.
What happens if I miss a payment instalment?
If you don’t keep up with your payment instalments, your plan may default. This may mean your overdue debt becomes immediately payable and firmer action may be taken to collect it. To avoid this, contact us as soon as possible to discuss your options.
To help you stay on track with your instalments, we recommend setting up a direct debit, so your payments are made automatically. If you prefer to pay manually, you can also select to receive SMS or email reminders.
When you view your payment plan online, you can choose the option Update payment plan. This allows you to change the date and/or the amount for each instalment.
If you want to modify a payment date, amount or cancel an instalment online you’ll need to do this:
Allow one business day before the instalment date if the payment method is direct debit via credit or debit card
Allow 3 business days before the instalment date, if the payment method is direct debit via your bank accounts.
Sometimes modifying a payment plan isn’t an option. In that case you may have to cancel your existing payment plan and start a new one. If you do this online, you may have to make another upfront payment.
Note: You won’t be able to make changes online if your current plan is longer than 24 months, or if the changes will extend the plan more than 24 months.
If you’re experiencing financial hardship
We get it, sometimes circumstances can change quickly. If you’re unable to keep up with your payment plan, don’t ignore it.
If paying your debt will cause serious financial difficulty, you may be able to access additional support, including re-negotiating your payment plan.
What happens to my ATO payment plan when I've paid my tax bill?
Good news! Your payments will automatically stop from our end.
If you’ve set up automatic payment transfers, you’ll need to cancel those with your bank. For direct debits set up through ATO online services, it’s a good idea to check the end-date to avoid overpaying.
Our systems may take some time to show your plan as paid off. Don't worry, we don't charge GIC after you've made your final payment.
If you’ve agreed to make an upfront payment as part of your payment plan conditions, make sure the funds are currently available in your bank account. The upfront amount should be based on your current available balance, not on funds expected to be received later.
In terms of processing timeframes, a direct debit from an Australian cheque or savings account can take up to 7 business days to be activated, plus a further 4 days for the payment to be received and shown on your account.
This timeframe is in addition to any instalments scheduled under your payment plan.
Hi Team, why is it that the payment options are not showing with installment schedule anymore in the final PDF print out? Could you please do something about it? We want all the payment options to show including the credit or debit card option with the easypay link. Thank you.
You can still view your payment plan details in your ATO Online services, but the system doesn’t generate a downloadable or printable PDF directly from the payment plan screen.
If you go to, Accounts and payments > then select Payment plans it should show your:
instalment schedule
account balance
payment method
payment frequency
due dates and the status of past payments.
You can use the print‑friendly view from the account's summary screen, which shows your account balances and transaction history. This can be downloaded or printed for your records (although it won’t display the instalment schedule in the same format as the payment plan screen).
For making payments, you can access payment options through the payments menu. This includes:
BPAY, and
the relevant payment reference number (PRN).
You should have also received a payment plan confirmation letter either through Australia post or electronically to your myGov mailbox when your plan was set up. This letter outlines the instalment schedule and available payment options. If you can't access it yourself, you can call us and ask for a copy to be sent out.
Is the payment plan wizard down? I've tried multiple times to engage in a payment plan on the ATO site and after finalising my contact details it just errors out.
The error code I receive is - ATOO-1769047985692
(Posting here because it doesnt seem that theres a direct contact with Tech Support for ATO)
Hi, So I am a little bit confused about the payment plan, so I applying payment plan at 25 July and my first payment should be at 25 July but I saw the status still "in progress" so I decided to pay when the status change to "Finalised", but until now the status didn't change, so I decided to just pay as it's already overdue (the first payment), as my financial now already stable, can I just pay all of them? would you mind to explain me how ? should i just cancel the payment plan?
You can definitely pay your account in full. You don't have to pay the individual payments, just make one lump sum payment for the outstanding amount. You don't need to cancel the payment plan, it will auto finalise once the account balance is paid off.
