Have you left something out of your income tax return? Or made a mistake? Don’t stress! You can amend your return online. If you need to lodge an amendment, it’s best to wait until after your original return, or any other amendments have finished processing. This will help prevent processing delays.
Are there time limits for lodging an amendment?
Yep! Individuals and sole traders have 2 years to lodge an amendment. The time limit this opens in a new window starts from the day after the date on your Notice of Assessment (NOA). To lodge an amendment after these 2 years, you’d need to lodge an objection.
This time limit also gives you certainty about your tax affairs because it means we can’t amend your tax assessment outside the time limit (except in some exceptional situations like evasion or fraud).
How do I lodge an amendment online?
To lodge an amendment online you’ll need to have our ATO online services linked to your myGov.
After you’ve successfully linked your account, select the ‘Australian Taxation Office’ tab listed in your linked services. This will bring you to your ATO online homepage. Once there, select:
Manage tax returns
From the History tab, find the return you wish to amend and select Amend.
From the History tab, select Amend on the return you wish to amend.
Remember to double check you’ve selected the right income year before amending.
The steps to amend will look very similar to when you lodged your initial return. You can add any missing information and update or delete incorrect items by clicking ‘Amend’ at each section.
Any extra information you may have provided in your previously lodged return might not show up. So, make sure to add all relevant info into the fields provided when asked.
An online amendment takes about 20 business days to process. If you need to amend again, wait until it’s finished processing to prevent unnecessary delays.
You’ll know your amendment is finalised when you receive a Notice of Amended Assessment (NOAA). You may receive a Notice of Assessment (NOA) as well.
How do I submit supporting documents for my amendment?
If we need extra information to support your amendment, we’ll ask for it. When we reach out, we’ll explain how to submit your supporting documents to us. This may include things like bank transactions, invoices, and receipts.
For your security, please never email us anything containing your sensitive personal information, like your TFN.
My amendment isn’t showing online – help!
Sometimes amendments don’t display immediately in your ATO Online account. One reason might be if you’ve lodged multiple amendments at once. If you’re worried your amendment wasn’t submitted correctly, check to see if you received a lodgment receipt via email.
It’s important not to lodge any further amendments and allow the system 20 business days to process what’s been submitted.
Why is my amendment showing as cancelled?
Don’t stress - A cancelled status actually means we're reviewing your amended returns. If we need more information from you, we’ll be in contact.
It’s important you don’t lodge more amendments until your outstanding amendments have finished processing as this can slow things down.
Why do I have an ATO initiated amendment?
Generally, an ATO initiated amendment means we’ve found something that’s not quite right with your return. This most likely occurs after a data-matching review of your return. Basically, this means there was an update to your income details after you lodged. For example – It could be from your employer, interest from your bank, shares or even Super.
It could also be the result of:
an objection or appeal lodged by you,
a legislative change
other reasons (like excess super contributions).
After our initiated amendment finishes processing, it’ll show in your ATO online services income tax history.
