Cost of tax compliance

Find out about:

• Cost of tax compliance summary table and chart – the data most users want
• Cost of tax compliance detailed tables – more complex data

Cost of tax compliance summary table and chart

Data for each income year includes data processed up to 31 October of the following year. For example, data for the 2015–16 income year includes data processed up to 31 October 2017.

Chart 17: Average time to complete tax return, 2011–12 to 2015–16 income years

Note: Individuals: this includes individuals who completed the business and professional items section only.

The data for the above chart, as well as similar data back to the 2009–10 income year, is available at data.gov.auExternal Link.

Table 20: Cost of managing tax affairs for individuals, 2013–14 to 2015–16 income years

	2013–14	2014–15	2015–16
Number of individuals	6,172,012	6,202,558	6,087,224
Total cost of managing tax affairs ($m)	2,301	2,344	2,256
Average cost of managing tax affairs ($)	373	378	371
Median cost of managing tax affairs ($)	164	165	170

Notes:Number of individuals: this will not include data from the tax return where the taxpayer has claimed the cost of managing tax affairs under a different label.Cost of managing tax affairs: includes expenses you incurred in managing your tax affairs, any interest charge we imposed on you, and other costs. For more information see Individual tax return instructions.

Cost of tax compliance detailed tables

Table 1External Link
Cost of tax compliance data, by form type, 1998–99 to 2015–16 years

Table 2External Link
Tax return form time-box data for the 2015–16 income year, by:

• entity type
• lodgment method
• total business income.

Table 3External Link
FBT and BAS forms time-box data, for the 2014–15 to 2016–17 FBT and financial years, by:

• entity type
• total business income.