[canonafficionado]

I lick them anyhow. I dont trust that new sticker technology.

[cosmichobo]

If not twitter (twitwhatnow?), as the largest Apple forum in Australia, can "we" get some kind of shame campaign going here?

I don't care if it's a "Mac" solution, but at least a web-based one...

[canonafficionado]

It's a good question Cos. Even if not a shame campaign, I think asking the ATO for a formal response to the question can only be a good exercise to encourage some internal action to happen.

Usually at this time of the year, they're usually keen to talk about E-Tax to the press, so now would be the time to ask them the questions.

[teamshaw]

As a first step I would suggest you write a letter to your local Federal member and ask him to forward it to the Treasurer. This will get you a response as quickly as possible which should also have the contact details of the relevant person in Treasury that you can talk to.

[par3182]

I hope everyone who has posted here as also sent feedback via the ATO site 'cause I suspect they're not spending any time on a Mac forum.

Originally Posted by dickg

I used to work for the poofters and they used to proclaim to the world that they were internet savvy and techo-wise.

Please don't use poofters as an insult.

[chip]

Originally Posted by BeePee

After 7 years I went out and bought and loaded Vista several weeks ago, D/L Etax and completed today, I have claimed the price of the software in my return ($299) see what happens.

I know it's a case of closing the gate after the horse has bolted, but you probably didn't need to blow all that cash on Vista straight away. For anyone who's worried they'll have to follow suit and shell out a significant wad of cash, try getting the Windows 7 Release Candidate (downloadable for free), and running it in Virtualbox (which is free & open source software).

The best long-term solution I can think of for the ATO is to move to a web-based system, because it'll be easier to make it multi-platform (although they'd probably manage to cock it up so it only ran in IE7). But that's probably far too progressive and techincally challenging a move for gigantic government bureaucracy.

[Cocoanut]

I sent the following email enquiry to the ATO on the 2/7/2009:

I would like to know when you plan on rewriting the tax payer funded e-tax application using technology that will
operate on all three main desktop operating systems; Windows, Linux and Mac OS? The e-tax application should be made available to as wide an audience as feasible. e-Tax has been written using Microsoft-only technology.

Development platforms such as Java have been available for many years. Java is a suitable platform for developing such an application to operate on many operating systems.

Even your statement on Mac OS support is out of date:

"E-tax is not compatible with Linux or Apple Macintosh computers. However, e-tax has been tested successfully on an Apple computer running OS X v10.4.3 with Virtual PC 7 software emulating a recommended Windows operating system"

Virtual PC 7 is an obsolete product and is not supported on current Mac OS computers. At least update your web page to specify Parallels, VMWare or VirtualBox as a workaround for Mac OS and Linux users.

I received the following response from them today:

We refer to your email dated 2 July 2009 concerning the availability of e-tax to non-Windows users. We apologise to you for any inconvenience this may have caused you.

The Tax Office commenced work in 2007 on redeveloping e-tax in order to make it platform independent. The intent of the project was to test a redeveloped e-tax product with a small group of users in 2008. However, the project identified a number of challenges and complexities. These challenges and complexities were so significant that the Tax Office has not redeveloped the e-tax product to become platform independent.

The Tax Office is currently undertaking a very substantial multi-year process to modernise its information technology systems. This program of work is intended to deliver a better experience for all taxpayers across the full range of taxes the Tax Office administers. As part of this work, the Tax Office has had to identify where it can best invest its IT resources. For this reason the complete redevelopment of the e-tax product has been delayed until appropriate resources are available. The Tax Office is unable to provide a revised timeframe for a redeveloped product.

In the meantime, the Tax Office will continue to improve the e-tax product and, where resources allow, will explore how it can be made available to users of non-Windows operating systems.

Finally, thank you for your feedback about information contained on the web site about Virtual PC. We document that there specifically because it has been tested and proven to work, but we will investigate further some of the items you have mentioned.

Thank-you for your enquiry.

I wouldn't hold my breath for a native Mac OS version. Haven't tried it in one of the modern VM's but I suspect it would work fine. I just have an issue with being forced to purchase a copy of Windows just for eTax. I'll keep going to an accountant for tax returns. Would rather hand over my money to an accountant than to Microsoft!

[cosmichobo]

Given that modern "VM"s are just... well... Windows on a Mac... then there shouldn't be any issues, I assume??

Maybe a poll (ie "Would you like to see a platform independant eTax solution from the ATO"... or even specifically "Would you like to use eTax natively on your Mac") could be started here... and twitter/digg etc the poll to gain more attention... (but keeping it based here at MacTalk).

[Phillo]

While I also think it sucks that e-tax should be on a mac, you need to look a bit further as to why they havent done it yet.

So... looking at a few comments... here are my thoughts. (and I am not speaking on behalf of the ATO, just from a well informed personal opinion).

1) Web Based app. The ATO will not do it. The reason is because etax is standalone and lets you enter your data label it as you wish and then send ONLY the required figures to the ATO. If it was web based, you would save the data on the ATO server & people will be up in arms about the privacy aspects of it. SO... its going to be standalone or not at all.

2) ATO's claim of being tech savvy. Well... they are full of themselves. They still use IE6 on their desktops and you cant even view the mactalk site properly. 99% of the computers within the ATO are at least 6 years old and cant even run MS OFFICE plus their internal software properly.

3) WAIT AND SEE. The ATO is in the process of spending lots of money on a project that has yet to be fully realised. If their promises come true.... I think you will see a massive improvement of the online services available and what they can do. They are pumping cash into development right now... but need to wait until a key component is rolled out before these benefits are realised (the key component handles EVERY SINGLE tax return lodged in australia. it holds around 30million tax file numbers and their associated lodgements.)

For those of you in business... you might have access to the Business Portal (or if you use a tax agent... ask to see your info on the tax agent portal). These tools are awesome and give a small glimpse of what the ATO can do when they put their mind to it.

[dekco]

Originally Posted by applesalesman

...
Did you know stamps don't need to be licked any more? They are just stickers now. Man how times have changed!

i was sold one that require licking only yesterday, so not all is replaced with a sticker.

[cmjl]

Originally Posted by BeePee

After 7 years I went out and bought and loaded Vista several weeks ago, D/L Etax and completed today, I have claimed the price of the software in my return ($299) see what happens.

You'll probably be OK with this. I sought and obtained a private ruling on this issue three years ago from the ATO, covering the purchase of emulation software with which to run eTax, though I never claimed it as I was given an old PC laptop that did the job.

[Huy]

Virtualbox + Win7 RC is a great idea!

[kitsune]

I seem to remember they were planning on rewriting it in Java, so that anyone could run it. I guess since it takes years for Government to do anything, having to release a new version every year must screw up their schedule enough to prevent the rewrite from getting finished.

I wish they'd just make a documented XML interface for submitting tax forms available for anyone that wants to write an eTax client. That way client applications could be made by competent, motivated developers. MYOB would probably make an application, too.

[Phillo]

Originally Posted by kitsune

I wish they'd just make a documented XML interface for submitting tax forms available for anyone that wants to write an eTax client. That way client applications could be made by competent, motivated developers. MYOB would probably make an application, too.

You never know what might happen.

The government is in the throws of launching the SBR (standard business reporting) project that involves introducing the XML based "XBRL" standard for business reporting.

Initially.... it will be used by the ATO, ASIC, APRA, Bureau of Stats and ALL state revenue offices. Basically its standardising fields of information across business to government reporting to allow more consistent and accurate delivery of the information to govt.

MYOB, Quicken and a number of software organisations will be adapting their software to report using this language over the next 1 - 2 years.

You can read more about the nuts and bolts of it here: http://www.sbr.gov.au

Its a pretty big initiative and the govt estimates that its going to save business around $80 - $100 million per year when its fully operational.

You would suggest that the benefits of this system will flow accross to individuals at some stage. This initiative combined with the ATO's change program HOPEFULLY (and i am not holding my breath) will mean that a full total redesign is underway and they will implement it in the next 12 months to 2 years.

[chaosboi]

I wonder if I can claim my purchase of 'Parallels' as a tax lodging expense!

[dekco]

should be able too, dont see why not. then again, im not an accountant.

[Jimbo]

I believe you can claim any materials or services' cost incurred in lodging your tax return.

oh and sticker stamps? should have seen the look on my face recently when i bought some stamps and they were not 45c!

[dekco]

they arent $0.50 either, but $0.55 now . I took exact change to buy a stamp, only to get knocked back and ask to join the queue again -__-

[woofy]

ATO has all the business BAS reporting stuff for Mac, bit weird something as common as etax isn't.

[Phillo]

Originally Posted by woofy

ATO has all the business BAS reporting stuff for Mac, bit weird something as common as etax isn't.

Its not quite as simple as that.

You are referring to e-Record... e-record is a set of files built around a product called "filenet desktop e-forms" which is built as a being a cross platform product. e-record are simply template files over the top of that.

Also... the tax office uses digital certificate stores that work on osx... and they are compiled in java.

e-tax on the other hand is a standalone program only designed for the windows environment. While they do update the program every year.... the reality is that the core program doesnt change. Its just the tax return information that gets updated.

As we have discussed before... for the ATO to make this available for mac users... they need to fully rewrite the software (and most likely in java).

They are supposed to be doing this.

I will believe it when i see it tho.