• iTax Portal aims for two-minute tax return lodgments
• Faster lodging helps compliance with ATO lodgment program
• $1,000 discount until 31st January 2014

GovReports’ iTax Portal has finished beta testing and was available to registered tax agents to speed up lodgment of individual tax returns. Impact Management Group which developed the portal claimed it would use pre-filled information from the Australian Tax Office to reduce lodgment time to two minutes.

Agents could enter, queue and lodge returns in the Electronic Lodgment Service compliant portal. Agents already using GovReports could push client data directly to the iTax Portal, which was automatically updated with the latest tax rules.

Faster lodgment would help tax agents comply with the ATO’s recently updated lodgment program, said Tiana Tran, Impact’s managing director. The program gave concessional due dates to tax agents who lodged 85 percent of clients’ current year returns by the lodgment due date and lodged all annual income tax and fringe benefits tax returns electronically.

While the ATO was expected to release its pre-fill function for tax returns in March, “accountants are shopping around now for solutions in preparation for tax season,” Tran said.

“Agents can use their traditional low season to become familiar with the portal and be ready to reap the benefits when the 2013-14 tax season starts,” Tran added.

Impact would waive the $1,000 initial set-up fee for registered tax agents that subscribed before 31 January 2014. Tax agents would still pay an annual fee of $75 for the 2014 financial year and lodgment fees of $2-$3 per return depending on volume. Lodgment fees were payable once the returns had been lodged with the ATO.

The set-up fee included a customised log-in landing page, customisable standard business and client web page, banner ads promoting the service for the tax agent’s business website, and the ability to import or roll over client and tax information from the previous year.

Tax agents could lodge 2012 and 2013 individual tax returns with the customisable iTax Portal from 4 April. Agents could lodge 2014 returns from 1 July.