If you are expecting a refund and experiencing serious financial hardship, we may be able to arrange for your return or refund to be processed as a priority.

While every effort is made to issue refunds as quickly as possible for taxpayers experiencing serious financial hardship, additional time may be required to process your return in circumstances where:

• you are a customer of another government department, including the Department of Human Services (Centre link or Child Support)
• you lodge income tax returns for multiple years at the same time
• your income tax return was lodged before the end of the income year
• your income tax return is subject to an audit or investigation.

How to request hardship processing

If you have already lodged your tax return:

• Go to Progress of return to use our online enquiry tool. This will give you the status of the income tax return you have lodged for the latest financial year (ending 30 June). Note: You may not need to lodge a request for hardship if your return is in the final stages of processing, and you will soon receive your notice.
• If your income tax return is not in the final stages of processing, assess your eligibility against the information provided under Demonstrating you are experiencing serious financial hardship Confirm the evidence you will need to supply to support your request.
• Fax to 02-80048180 the documents that demonstrate you are in serious financial hardship, with the following information clearly written on top of the documents: your tax file number (TFN); the words financial hardship; and your contact phone number.

If you have not yet lodged your tax return:

• Assess your eligibility by considering the information provided under Demonstrating you are experiencing serious financial hardship to confirm the evidence you will need to supply to support your request.

Fax to 02-80048180 your tax return and documents that demonstrate you are in serious financial hardship, with the following information clearly written on top: your tax file number (What happens next)

Once you provide us with the necessary information and your request is approved, your return will be processed as a priority. Additional time may be required to process your return in circumstances where:

• you are a customer of another government department, including the Department of Human Services (Centrelink or Child Support)
• you lodge income tax returns for multiple years at the same time
• your income tax return was lodged before the end of the income year
• your income tax return is subject to an audit or investigation.

We will contact you if we require further information.

• TFN); the words financial hardship; and your contact phone number.

For more information on Etax, Mytax and online tax return, please contact us at 1300 698 297 or you can email us at info@mytaxrefundtoday.com.au