When paying tax debt, we are given a due date. In the payment options, there's a message saying it could take up to 4 days for the payment to reflect on the the ATO account. Now, when paying the debt, does that mean we have to pay at least 4 days prior to the actual due date or is it fine as long as the payment is processed by the payer's financial institution before the due date?
Hi @lm5637,
Your payment needs to reach us on or before its due date. When we say it can take up to 4 business days for payments to appear on your ATO account, we're referring to how long it takes for the payment to be processed and show up in our system.
To avoid missing the deadline, you should factor this into your payment schedule to ensure it reaches us in time. Payments aren't considered 'paid' until they're received by us, not when they're processed by your financial institution.
If you're concerned about paying on time, you might consider using a payment plan.
Thanks Rachel. Sorry for the delay in acknowledging and replying to your response.
Having checked on Commbank's BPAY processing details [Link removed by moderator], it says
If your payment is made on a bank business day before 6pm (Sydney / Melbourne time) it will be debited from your account instantly and processed that day. The biller will acknowledge the payment as having been made that day and should process the payment the next banking business day.
Is this valid in this scenario for ATO payments?
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