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CillianButler(I'm new)I'm new
30 Nov 2025

Hey guys I lodged my tax return October 14th and I’m still on “balancing account” what’s going on? I was on a payment plan which nearly finished with this years tax return paying the remainder is this the reason why it’s taking so long to come through?

65 views
1 replies
65 views
1 replies

All replies

DamienATO(Community Support)Community Support
1 Dec 2025

Hi @CillianButler,


A tax return status of balancing account means, we've got the result of your return and we're working out your refund or bill based on your account balance. This stage includes checking with other Government agencies and can take a few extra days.


Since you mentioned you were on a payment plan that's nearly finished, this could be contributing to the processing time. At the balancing account stage, we check if you have any debts or credits with us or other Government agencies, and this gets factored into your final outcome. Tax returns can take longer to process for various reasons, including when we need to double check details or wait for information from other sources.


If the processing date or effective date have passed, then you can call our individual enquires line for a more specific update regarding your return.



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tax return status has been in balancing account since October | ATO Community