Version 2025.6 released August 2025

The latest enhancements to Access Tax directly address practitioner productivity and compliance efficiency.

New Features

Optional enhanced printing with blank panels: PDF exports now include blank panels when enabled via user settings. Users can control this via "Include Blank Items" option in My Profile, with global practice-level controls available for consistent firm-wide standards.

• Eliminates Manual Document Assembly: Saves significant time for firms who currently manually combine multiple PDF exports.
• Professional Transparency: Demonstrates which sections were intentionally reviewed and left blank, improving reviews, client communication and trust.
• Audit Trail Compliance: Provides complete form documentation for audit 
  requirements without manual processes.

ATO Due Date Processing Enhancement: New "Update Due Date" button streamlines compliance tracking by updating tax return due dates from the downloaded ATO Income Tax Client Reports. Includes full audit trail with user accountability and timestamps.

• Compliance Risk Reduction: Ensures lodgment schedules accurately reflect ATO requirements, preventing missed deadlines
• Time Savings: Eliminates manual searching and data entry from ATO reports with simple "Update Due Date" button.
• Accuracy Improvement: Reduces human error in manual due date entry and tracking.

PAYG Instalment Monthly/Quarterly Breakdown: Enhanced PAYG instalment 
calculations within the Individual Income Tax Return estimate can now be broken down into monthly or quarterly amounts based on individual specific circumstances requirements. Features editable fields with trickle-down calculations and integrates with existing PDF export controls.

• Enhanced Client Service: Provides detailed instalment planning that clients can understand and act upon. 
• Cash Flow Planning: Enables better financial planning for clients with monthly or quarterly payment preferences.
• Flexibility: Accommodates different entity requirements and payment 
  structures.

Enhanced Search Across Full Return: Search functionality expanded beyond current view to include all worksheets, schedules, and forms within tax returns. Results show source section and enable direct navigation to relevant areas.

• Productivity Gain: Find information across entire tax returns in seconds rather 
  than navigating multiple sections manually.
• Professional Efficiency: Enhances ability to answer client questions quickly 
  during consultations.
• Complex Return Navigation: Particularly valuable for practitioners handling 
  large, complex returns with multiple schedules.

ATO Package Updates: Updated Non-Individual Tax Return (NITR) 2025 validation rules to v1.4 and ITCRPT service conformance suite to address ATO compliance requirements.

This update ensures the software meets the latest regulatory and technical standards set by the Australian Taxation Office.

Issues Resolved

• Restored missing chat support icon - Fixed issue where the Digital Assistant chat icon was not displaying in the bottom-right corner of the screen, preventing users from accessing help and support features.
• Fixed issue where missing spouse gender field at Item A6 in Individual Income Tax Returns generated SBR lodgement errors when using related reference transfer functionality.
• Resolved Firefox display layout issues affecting form sections that were not 
  resizing correctly.
• Trust Return Agent Account Fixes: 
  • Fixed error when opening new Trust returns related to agent "Credit 
    Agent A/C" settings.
  • Fixed issue where agent details were not populating on Trust return 
    covers when "Credit Agent A/C" option was enabled.
  • Resolved EFT details not appearing on Trust return forms when Agent Account settings were configured.
• SAPTO (Seniors and Pensioners Tax Offset) Calculation Updates: 
  • Corrected Super Lump Sum Offset calculation errors in tax estimates to properly apply the 22% rebate for taxed elements.
  • Updated SAPTO calculations to use correct 2025 income thresholds 
    instead of 2024 thresholds.

Security

• Continuous security and performance updates have been applied.

Released Jul 2025

Minor Defects

• Fixed an issue where tax form statuses appeared in random order in the dropdown menu within tax forms, despite being properly ordered in the practice settings. The dropdown now respects the same ordering as configured in the Statuses tab.
• Fixed incorrect "Invalid Date" error displayed for prefilled Employment Termination Payment details in 2025 tax returns.
• Updated SAPTO (Seniors and Pensioners Tax Offset) Warning calculations to use the correct 2025 income thresholds instead of 2024 thresholds.
• Updated International Dealing Schedule activity codes to align with ATO website numbering standards, including restoration of the "Other - 99" option that was missing from the 2025 tax year.
• Fixed validation error cmn.ato.ptr.431047 for 2016 Partnership Tax Return by updating to the ATO's revised validation rules. Zero values are now recognised as valid where required.

Security

• Continuous security & performance updates have been applied.

Released May 2025

Changes

• We have undertaken a comprehensive UI/UX uplift to ensure our product aligns seamlessly with other Access Group offerings. All existing capabilities within the product remain unchanged, but every aspect of the application, including forms and reports, has been meticulously reviewed and updated to align with the new UX/UI standards.
• The Evo button, which appears within Access Tax for firms utilising Evo, has been updated to ensure it consistently appears at every login.

Security

• Continuous security & performance updates have been applied.

Released Feb 2025

Changes

• All forms, schedules and declarations updated to the latest ATO SBR Specifications:- 
  • Non-Individual Income Tax Return (NITR) 2024 Package V1.8. 
  • Non-Individual Income Tax Return (NITR) 2020 Package V1.8.  
• We have renamed the menu item for ‘Refund’ to ‘Estimate’ for the Individual and Trust Tax returns
• Implemented the latest ATO package which corrects the 2024 Trust Form Item 47 Business name errors.

Minor Defects

• We have updated the process that locks the figures in a tax return once lodgment is successful. We are aware that, in some cases, the figures may have changed after lodgment. This release includes further fixes to address those reported issues.
• Corrected a unique situation whereby the Individual Tax Returns Tax Estimate may have been a difference between the onscreen calculation and the PDF Estimate.
• Updated the 2020 Company tax return and International Dealing schedule to display the ATO validation error CMN.ATO.IDS.440561.
• Added the missing Trust type V – ‘CCV sub fund Trust’ for the 2024 Trust Form.
• Updated the PDF generation tool to correct an issue where printouts may have errored by stating ‘Failed to convert to pdf’.
• Addressed an issue where Activity Statement Lodgement reports was not displaying all the available Activity Statements.

Security

• Continuous security & performance updates have been applied.

Released Nov 2024

Changes

• ATO Reports updated to the new ATO service
  • Income Tax Clients (ITCRPT)
  • Activity Statement Lodgements (ASLRPT)
• Removed the ability to allow the same client to be used as its own Related Reference.
• Removed the ability to enter invalid characters in the Trust name for the Trust income schedule / worksheet.

Minor Defects

• Resolved the issue where an error was generated when the client notes field contained an invalid character.
• Updated the offset eligibility to $112,578 for Individual Tax Return Item T5.
• Resolved the issue with the Franked distribution not transferring to other schedules when auto transfer was applied in the Partnership Income worksheet.
• Resolved the issue where an internal error was generated incorrectly when the business name had been entered into the business worksheet.

Released Nov 2024

Defects

• Resolved an issue where importing of downloaded Prefill data into tax returns was disabled.

Released Nov 2024

Minor Defects

• Addressed some of the sealing issues for IITR 2024.
• Address an issue where some clients experienced their Status names had been changed.
• Fixed the issue where the PDF printout for the IITR was not showing the: 
  • Spouse income correctly.
  • The beneficiary transfer from A Trust to individuals Trust income worksheet.

Security

• Continuous security & performance updates have been applied.

Released Sep 2024

Changes

• All forms, schedules and declarations updated to the latest ATO SBR Specifications:-
  • Individual Income Tax Return (IITR) 2024 Package V1.3.
  • Non-Individual Income Tax Return (NITR) 2024 Package V1.6.
• Added a Warning for when the Medicare levy surcharge may be applied when the income is over the threshold for the individual. This has been applied to the 2024 Income Tax Returns (IITR).

Minor Defects

• We have updated the process that locks the figures in a tax return once lodgment is successful. We are aware that, in some cases, the figures may have changed after lodgment. This release includes fixes to address those reported issues.
• Fixed the formatting issue in the PDF where a comma incorrectly appeared in the postcode.
• Corrected the alignment of fields in the depreciation worksheet printouts for the 2023 and 2024 returns.
• Resolved the issue where line 2 of the address disappeared on screen and in the PDF export when selecting the option ‘Has your postal address changed?’.
• Updated the SAPTO warning to generate correctly.
• Fixed a calculation issue in the Self-managed superannuation return for Item 11, label W, ensuring the field displays correctly in all situations.

Security

• Continuous security updates

Released Sep 2024

Changes

• Access Tax is undergoing a UX transformation to enhance the colour palette and overall user experience. The first noticeable change will be the login screens, which will have a fresh new look. Over the next few months, we will continue to roll out additional updates to further improve your experience with Access Tax.
• Added functionality to apply Substituted Accounting Periods to Company Tax returns (CTR).
• Self-managed superannuation fund returns have been updated at Item 13 Calculation Statement to correctly reflect a payable or refundable amount.
• The Practice Settings section of Integration has been enhanced with an additional choice of Access Data Engine option introduced.

Minor Defects

• Resolved an issue when applying filters on the client list may have resulted that some of results were incorrect.
• Resolved the issue where income not transferring to spouse tax return where FHSS income was populated.

Security

• Continuous security & performance updates have been applied.

Released Aug 2024

Changes

• Implemented enhancements to boost the web application’s performance.

Released August 2024

Changes

• IITR Prefill 2024 enhanced with an option to choose to prefill unfinalised data. Two locations have had this enhancement include -:
  • When creating a new form and choosing to prefill the new form.
  • Within the tax form under the Prefill bucket icon.
• The latest ATO packages have been applied which include updates to certain validation rules that enable the Small Business Energy Incentives fields.
• Updated 2024 Depreciation Asset write off threshold.
• Changed the wording for IITR item M2 to include leap year value.

Minor Fixes

• Resolved the issue with the 2024 Foreign property worksheet with expenses was preventing the IITR to be opened.
• Updated the Trust Return to display correct error message at the Business and Professional items section.
• Resolved the issue with the 2021 FBT form displaying an error that couldn’t be resolved.
• Reviewed the issue where the capitals gain in the Trust income worksheet was not transferring correctly to the main form.
• Resolved issues where the exported PDF values did not match the form values for certain items.
• Updated the mapping for Franking credit in the Trust income schedule for the Company Tax Return.

Security

• Continuous security updates.

Released July 2024

Changes

• Self-Managed Superannuation Fund Return PDF export updated for Item 7A bank account details in the Electronic Declaration Section B.
• The Tax agent filter on the Client List view has been modified for
  businesses that have multiple practices connected.

Minor Fixes

• Resolved an issue for the 2022 and 2023 Internation Dealing Schedule (IDS) whereby Item 14 was incorrectly generating an internal error.
• The Bank Account Export report has been adjusted for reporting across multiple practices.

Security

• Continuous security updates have been applied.

Released June 2024

What changes are in this release?

• Access Tax is registered with the ATO for Practitioner Lodgment Service (PLS) for the following forms with the addition of the relevant 2024 Tax Time versions: -
  • ITR - Individual
  • CTR - Company
  • PTR - Partnership
  • TRT - Trust
  • SMSFAR - Self managed superfund
  • FTER - Family Trust Election or Revocation
  • IEE - Interposed Entity Election
  • AS - Activity Statements
  • CGNFT - Consolidated Group Notification of Formation and Member Entry/Exit
  • CUREL - Client Update Relationship Add/Delete
  • CURNN - Client Update - Return Not Necessary
  • MAT - Manage Agent Trust
  • ITCRPT - Income Tax Client Report
  • ASLRPT - Activity Statement Lodgment Report
  • ASCRPT - Activity Statement Client Report
  • EFTRS - Electronic Fund Transfer Reconciliation Report
  • MRPTS - Subscribe EFTRS
• Access Tax is registered with the ATO for paper lodgment of the 2024 major forms.
• All forms, schedules and declarations updated to: -
  • SBR Specifications Individual Income Tax Return (IITR) 2024
    Package V1.0
  • SBR Specifications Non-Individual Income Tax Return (NITR) 2024 Package V1.0

Useful Links 2024

What’s New this year

Tax Time 2024

Forms and Instructions

Tax Time publications online now

ATO system maintenance information

The F1 help and links to included ATO instructions have been updated.

Note - Not all ATO instructions were available at the time of release.

Minor Defects

• Resolved the issue for IITR 2017 Occupational code search feature.
• Addressed some printout issues for various forms.
• Updated Trust Tax Returns to include C – Special disability Action code in the drop-down list.

Security

• Continuous Security updates applied.

Released June 2024

Changes

• Improvements to the infrastructure have been applied improve performance of Access Tax.

Minor Fixes

• Updated the Client Record when an email is saved but without a ‘Contact Name’ being included. When Access Tax is integrated with other Access products this may have the effect of adding an unrelated contact name
  into the Contact Field. This has been resolved.
• Adjustments to how the new year tax return creation process is conducted have been applied. This minor update fixes the likelihood of the error ‘Form type not available for the given period.’ from triggering under a specific scenario.

Released February 2024

Changes

• Continual optimisation work which results in performance improvements within the application.

Released February 2024

Changes

• Additional Access Document Portal integration capability which builds upon our December 2023 release.
• Added ‘Client Portal Account’ status to the client details screen which displays the current status of the email address in relation to the Access Client Portal.
• Introduced an ability to ‘Send Invite’ for an email address for the purpose of inviting an accountant’s client to the Client Portal.
• Bank account details in the Electronic Declaration has been expanded into the ‘Bank Details’ option with ‘Blank Identifiers’.
• Updated the Occupation Codes to align with ATO changes.
• Added the negative symbol to the Company Tax Return Calculation Statements section on the ATO and Worksheet copy printouts to signify Refundable amount.
• Updated to the ATO IITR Package 2023 v1.2.

Minor Defects

• Resolved the issue where the Tax Agent number in Part D of the shared facilities section was not displaying in the printouts for non-individual tax returns.
• Resolved the issue where Item 13 deductions were not printing correctly.
• Fixed the currency formatting for some of the Activity Statement printouts.
• Resolved the issue where the CGT schedule was printing out blank when Export -> Schedule option was used.
• Addressed some issues when attaching another practice, the conflicting report was not able to be generated.

 Security

• Continuous security updates applied.

Released January 2024

Minor Defects

• Resolved issues/errors relating to validation of BAS and IAS forms.

Released December 2023

Enhancement

• Access Documents & Access Document Portal integration has been added.

• Access Documents is available for customers who subscribe to this Access service. Users of Access Tax will have the ability to create PDF Worksheet copy or ATO copy of tax returns and send them to Access Document Portal for eSignature requests from clients, PDFs can also be created and saved directly into Access Documents.

Minor Defects

• Resolved an issue whereby the Lodgment process may not complete.

Security

• Continuous security updates applied.

Released November 2023

Worksheet Copy export to PDF available where a Work Related Expense Worksheet exists.

Released November 2023

Enhancements

• Within ATO Reports we have introduced Retrieve Outstanding Reports which allows an authorised user the ability to view outstanding ATO Reports and initiate the download from the ATO.
  • Please note, this is available for the Activity Statement Lodgment Report, with Activity Statement Client & Income Tax Client Reports available as beta in this release.
• Added connection functionality for Zap Data Hub which provides rich analytical reporting capabilities & dashboards based upon the Tax Form Details, Client List and the ATO Income Tax Client Report.
• The Help section has updated URL’s for the Manual and User guides which reflect the rebranding to Access Tax.
• Font style of the tax return export has been updated to Arial.

Minor Defects

• Resolved an issue whereby after retrieving the Activity Statement Lodgment Report, the check box may not have been available to allow the creation and prefill of the Activity Statements for a client.
• Addressed the issue where some users were getting errors in their Tax Return referring to wrong years.
• Fixed the issue where the printouts were cutting off sections in D3 of the Work Related Expenses Schedule.

Security

• Continuous Security updates applied.

Released October 2023

 Enhancements

• Commencement of official name change from HandiTax Cloud to Access Tax.
  • Logo changed.
  • Wording updated.
  • Email templates updated.

• Continual optimisation work which results in performance improvements within the application.

• Non-resident Foreign income median rates updated for 2023.

Minor Defects

• Updated error messages when trying to open tax return via Access Practice Management which provide the user more information as to why the error has occurred.

• Resolved the issue for the Country code 69230 not displaying the description correctly within the Company Tax return.

• Resolved the issue where a lodged tax return was not displaying the correct Status.

• Resolved the issue when running the Client List report on a large amount of data was showing a blank error when exporting to CSV.

Security

• Continuous Security updates applied.

Released August 2023

Enhancements

• Custom Worksheet - Added functionality to create custom Worksheet Copy. User choice to be applied to:
  • Indvidual Tax Returns (IITR) all years
  • Partnership (PTR), Trust (TRT), Company (CTR) and Self-Managed Super fund (SMSF) - all years.

• Defined Search options – Added separated search criteria on the main listing screen:
  • Search All
  • Search by TFN
  • Search by Name
  • Search by Client Ref
  • Search by ABN
  • Search by Phone number.
• Status Changed field – introduced into the Tax Form Details view which tracks the last date when a tax return Status is changed. Additionally available as:
  • Main client list screen column picker.
  • Return Report Builder column picker.
• Rental Schedule & Foreign Property Worksheet - Rental expense descriptions can be manually entered.
• Updated the ATO validation rules to allow Small Business Boost tax returns to be lodged.

Minor Defects

• Resolved the issue where the Practice subscription had expired but still allowed Users to access but could not use the application correctly.
• Updated non individual organisation name to allow square bracket and grave accent symbols. As per ATO criteria.
• Addressed the issue where Occupation and Industry code wasn’t synching with Access Practice Management.
• Address an issue when Private Client tax returns were opened via Access Practice Management by another user, it would display and error. ‘Failed to Open Tax Return’. A more informative message will be displayed.

Security

• Continuous Security updates applied.

Released June 2023

What changes are in this release?

• New logo introduced within the main view called ‘access Tax’.
• Added new functionality for lodging tax returns where multiple practices are attached.
• Added a search field within ‘Switch Practice’ which dynamically filters available practices based upon your text search.
• Access HandiTax Cloud is registered with the ATO for Practitioner Lodgment Service (PLS) for the following forms with the addition of the relevant 2023 TaxTime versions: -
  • IITR - Individual
  • CTR - Company
  • PTR - Partnership
  • TRT - Trust
  • SMSFAR - Self managed superfund
  • Loss Carry Back Amendment schedule for Company Tax Return
  • FTER - Family Trust Election or Revocation
  • IEE - Interposed Entity Election
  • AS - Activity Statements
  • CGNFT - Consolidated Group Notification of Formation and Member Entry/Exit
  • CUREL - Client Update Relationship Add/Delete
  • CURNN - Client Update - Return Not Necessary
  • MAT - Manage Agent Trust
  • ITCRPT - Income Tax Client Report
  • ASLRPT - Activity Statement Lodgment Report
  • ASCRPT - Activity Statement Client Report
  • EFTRS - Electronic Fund Transfer Reconciliation Report
  • MRPTS - Subscribe EFTRS
• Access HandiTax Cloud is registered with the ATO for paper lodgment of the 2023 major forms.
• All forms, schedules and declarations updated to: -
  • SBR Specifications Individual Income Tax Return (IITR) 2023 Package V1.0
  • SBR Specifications Non-Individual Income Tax Return (NITR) 2023 Package V1.0

Useful Links 2023

What’s New this year
Tax Time 2023
Forms and Instructions
Tax Time publications online now
ATO system maintenance information

The ATO SBR2 PLS gateway opens on June 21st and the ATO have advised whitelisting and registration to lodge 2023 forms using access HandiTax Cloud will occur thereafter.
The F1 help and links to included ATO instructions have been updated.

Note - Not all ATO instructions were available at the time of release.

• There have been changes to certain Country Names by the ATO and therefore this may present as an error in the tax return.
• That ATO have updated or removed certain Occupational codes and upon rollover into the 2023 tax return it may appear as an error.

Minor Defects

• Resolved the issue where business worksheet information was not transferring to main form.
• Addressed some issues where Status was Lodged but not received by ATO.
• Resolved the issue where capital gain not calculated correctly from managed funds in the 2020 IITR.
• Resolved some issues where the TFN was not get ‘blanked’ out in some worksheets.
• Resolved the issue where the validation rule INCDTLS00038 could not be cleared.

Security

• Continuous Security updates applied.

Released April 2023

Changes

• Individual Income Tax Prefill
  • ATO Prefill Data will no longer have the coloured wording. Instead, it will be identified by a ‘P’.
  • The option to prefill directly into the Work Related Expenses worksheet has been added.
  • Prefill report has been redesigned to show all data that has been received from ATO prefill function, not just what has prefilled.

Please Note: Blank identifiers function will not affect this report.

• Added functionality to allow Return Report Builder to generate the Report across multiple attached Practices.
• Added the BSB and Account number to the Electronic Funds Transfer Consent section of the Declaration.
• Introduced Move Up and Move Down buttons on the Status setup screen to assist with creating custom tax form statuses.

Minor Defects

• Resolved the issue in Report Builder where the Staff user assigned to clients were not displayed.
• Resolved the issue in Report Builder when exporting the Report to XLS the values were not showing as negative values where applicable.

Security

• Continuous security updates applied

Released March 2023

Changes

• Added Fringe Benefit Tax Return (FBT) 2023
• Bulk rollover no longer allows client selection for rolling over the tax returns. Options will now be to rollover all the forms depending on the form selection.
• Added the functionality to export the Lodgment Summary Report to PDF.
• Updated the Taxable Income thresholds for the Return Report Builder expression filter.
• PleaseSign - E-Signature export option will now check if the User has a PleaseSign account and send the documents to the Users PleaseSign login account.
• Moving clients from one attached Practice to another no longer relies on switching to the parent practice.

Minor Defects

• Resolved the issue of the ATI calculation for the 2019 IITR.
• Resolved the issue where some of the tax return Statuses were not displayed in the Return Report Builder screen.
• Resolved the issue where some of the data was not transferring from Final Accounts.
• Resolved the issue where the Lodgment date was displaying the previous date when lodged before a certain time.
• Resolved the issue with Item 12 Employee Share Scheme was not calculating correctly.
• Reverted the Sort order on the main screen.
• Addressed the issue where the Audit Log report was not able to be generated.
• Resolved the Audit Log Report where the scroll bar was not visible on the Users screen.

Security

• Continuous security updates applied.

Released 16th February 2023

Addresses some general performance optimisation processes.

Released February 6th 2023

Changes 

• Updated the process when changing the status of the return to 'Ready to Lodge' to recognise values that are automatically transferred from linked locations.
  
  
• Addresses some general performance optimisation processes.

Released February 2023

Changes 

• My Profile screen. 

• • Added Autofill Declaration Date option. When selected this will populate the Tax Agent Declaration Date with that day’s date. Only when this field is blank. 

• • Added Bank Details for Blank Identifiers options. 

• PleaseSign - E-Signature export option now has the option to send the Tax Return copies directly to the recipient or to the PleaseSign account as a draft for further review.
  
  
• Permissions – Partner, Manager and Staff Roles have been created and separated from the permissions Group. This will allow you to choose any permission group you decide whilst also being able to allocate any Role to the staff member (for selection on the Client Record for Partner / Manager / Staff.)
  
  
• Edit Tax Form Detail screen – Postal address on this screen will override the contact priority, ONLY when Fee from Refund option has been checked.
  
  
• Removed the ‘rounding’ amounts from the CGT summary listing.
  
  
• Return Report Builder – Updated the Taxable Income column field to show Negative or Positive amounts with brackets as visual clues.
  
  
• Return Report Builder – Updated the Tax Estimate column field to show Refund or Payable amounts with brackets as visual clues.
  
  
• The functionality where previous data changes from prior year would automatically populate the current year tax return, e.g., Change of address or change of name has been removed. This must be completed manually where applicable. 

Minor Defects 

• Resolved the issue where there were multiple attached Practices and the Status filter on the main screen was appearing as duplicated. 

• Resolved the issue where some clients were getting; HandiTax Cloud Error: "String reference not set to an instance of a String. Parameter name: s" error when opening ATO Reports > Income Tax Clients page. 

• Resolved the issue where some validation errors were not displayed at the front end but getting rejected by the ATO. 

• Resolved an error when adding more than 3 new users consecutively. 

• Resolved an issue whereby transferred data from HandiLedger may not have saved into the tax return.

 Security

• Continuous security updates applied.