Cost of compliance data is taken from income tax returns, FBT returns and activity statements.
Cost of tax compliance summary charts
- Chart 19: Average time to complete tax return – over 5 years
- Chart 20: Cost of managing tax affairs for individuals – over 5 years
Chart 19: Average time to complete tax return, 2015–16 to 2019–20 income years
In this chart, Individuals includes only those who completed the business and professional items section of the tax return.
Download data from the 2009–10 income year onward at Snapshot table 5External Link.
Chart 20: Cost of managing tax affairs for individuals, 2015–16 to 2019–20 income years
In this chart:
- Cost of managing tax affairs doesn't include amounts claimed for the cost of managing tax affairs under a different label
- Cost of managing tax affairs up until 2016–17 includes
- expenses people incurred in managing their tax affairs
- any interest charge we imposed
- other costs
- from 2017–18, deductions are reported at 3 labels rather than one label.
Download data from the 2005–06 income year onward at Snapshot table 5External Link.
Cost of tax compliance detailed tables
Table 1:External Link Cost of taxation compliance data, by form type, 1998–99 to 2020–21 years
Table 2:External Link Tax return form time-box data, by entity type, lodgment method and total business income, 2019–20 income year
Table 3:External Link Fringe benefits tax (FBT) and business activity statement (BAS) forms time-box data, by market segment, 2015–16 to 2020–21 FBT and financial years