The Australian Tax Office says new processing systems have caused delays to
the payment of tax refunds, but they have also picked up more than $65
million worth of dodgy claims. It is eight weeks into tax time and the ATO
has already processed 3.8 million returns from Australian taxpayers. The
lion's share of those - some 3.6 million - were refunds totalling a whopping
$9 billion. But the ATO says new processing software, which was used for the
first time this year, has identified 15,000 overstated or fraudulent claims
worth more than $65 million. The ATO says the new processing system is
slowing down the payment of claims, adding about an extra two days for all
returns.