How to Amend a Tax Return Australia

An amendment corrects an assessment that has already issued. You do not lodge a second return, and the ATO does not charge a fee for the request.

• You answered a question incorrectly, or used the wrong label.
• You left out income or a capital gain.
• You did not claim a deduction or tax offset you were entitled to.
• Something changed after you lodged — a revised or additional payment summary, an employer finalising or updating your income statement, or repaying an amount of income you were overpaid.
• Pre-fill information was wrong: contact the employer, bank, health fund or agency that supplied it so the corrected data reaches the ATO, then amend.

Individuals generally have 2 years to amend an assessment, and the period starts the day after the notice of assessment is sent to you. The ATO worked example: if myGov emails you on 3 November 2026 to say the notice is available, the amendment period starts on 4 November 2026 and runs to 4 November 2028.

Sole traders have 4 years for the 2024-25 income year and later years. For 2023-24 and earlier the sole trader period is generally 2 years. The period runs from the day after the assessment is sent, on the same basis.

The limit runs both ways. Outside 2 years the ATO generally cannot amend your assessment unless you request it, although it can act outside the limit in exceptional circumstances such as evasion or fraud. Within the period you may submit more than one amendment request.

Submit early rather than on the last day: the request has to be lodged inside the period, and a written request can take 50 business days to reach a decision.

Any channel can be used regardless of how the original return was lodged — an amendment can go through ATO online services even if the return was lodged on paper, and a tax agent can lodge one electronically even if the original was not.

Wait until you have been notified that the original return — or any earlier amendment — has been processed. Amending before processing finishes is one of the ATO published causes of delay.

1. Sign in to myGov and select ATO from your linked services.
2. Select Manage tax returns from the Quick link, then select Amend next to the income year you want to change.
3. To fix a label, select the field and overwrite the amount with the correct figure. Change only the labels that are actually wrong.
4. To add a new type of income, deduction or tax offset, go to the Personalise return screen and select the relevant checkbox. To add an extra payment summary, interest or dividend record, use the Add/Edit button in that section of the Prepare return screen.
5. Review the declaration, submit, and save the receipt. Read the amended notice of assessment when it issues.

A letter must include all the relevant information, along with copies of any documents that support the request. Anything missing turns the request into a back-and-forth on top of the 50 business day timeframe.

• Your tax file number, full name, postal address and a daytime or mobile phone number.
• Your bank account details, in case the amendment produces a refund.
• The income year shown on the return you are amending.
• The question number your change relates to, and a description.
• The amount of income, deductions or tax offsets you are adding or subtracting, and the corrected total.
• The reason for the change, or an explanation of how the mistake was made.
• A signed and dated declaration that the information is true and correct and that you hold the receipts or other records supporting the claim.

The two pathways are not interchangeable. An amendment corrects a figure. An objection is a formal review of a decision, and there is no fee to lodge one.

Lodge an objection where you want to dispute the law, dispute the facts the ATO used to reach a decision about your tax affairs, or amend outside the time limits. You can ask for an extension of time to lodge an objection in some circumstances — an extension has no equivalent on the amendment side.

Objection time limits track the amendment periods: generally 2 years for most individuals and small businesses, and 4 years for other taxpayers. For an amended assessment, you have the later of 60 days from the date the amended assessment was given to you, or the time remaining on the original assessment. Where the ATO decides to retain a refund, the objection period starts 90 days after you lodge and ends when the amended assessment arrives.

Most individuals can lodge an objection in ATO online services, or use the Objection form for taxpayers. The ATO issues a notice of decision with reasons, an amended assessment where relevant, and information on seeking an external review through the Administrative Review Tribunal or the Federal Court.

An amendment can increase a refund, reduce an amount owing, create a new amount owing, or change nothing. Where it increases the tax you owe, the ATO treats the request as a voluntary disclosure, which is why the approved form matters: an online amendment, the paper amendment form or a letter.

Where an amendment produces a shortfall, the ATO applies shortfall interest charge rather than general interest charge, because you generally could not have known about the shortfall until the amended assessment arrived. SIC runs on a daily compounding basis on the shortfall for the period between when the tax would have been due and when the assessment is corrected, and the rate is reset quarterly — 7.43% a year for the Jul-Sep 2026 quarter.

The extra tax and the SIC are due 21 days after the ATO issues the notice of amended assessment. After that date general interest charge (11.43% a year for the same quarter) applies automatically to anything still unpaid. SIC and GIC incurred on or after 1 July 2025 cannot be claimed as a deduction. You can ask for a SIC amount to be remitted in full or in part where there are extenuating circumstances, such as the ATO contributing to the error.

Where the amendment reduces your tax, you receive a refund unless you have other tax debts, and the ATO pays interest on overpayments where an assessment you had already paid is amended downwards.

Before you submit, identify the exact label that is wrong and keep the source document or calculation supporting the corrected amount — the declaration you sign says you hold those records.

Keep the receipt or a copy of the request as well. If the ATO later reviews the amended year, the amendment request and the substantiation behind it are what you will be asked to produce.

If you believe the ATO made an error while processing the return rather than you making a mistake, contact it first. Some processing errors can be sorted out without an amendment at all.

Frequently asked questions