Access Tax updates 

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.