A ban on credit card payments to the Australian Taxation Office (ATO) will be delayed until next year, with the federal government agreeing to temporarily cover the cost of surcharges after pressure from businesses.<\/p>\n
Treasurer Jim Chalmers said the funding would allow the ATO to accept credit cards until June 30, giving them “more time” to consult with businesses and “get it right”.<\/p>\n
“We take very seriously the feedback ATO and the government have received in relation to implementing this surcharge ban,” he said.<\/p>\n
“We try not to interfere with the RBA or the ATO, but it’s really important that we have stepped in today”.<\/p>\n
The ATO announced last week it would stop accepting credit card payments for tax bills from December in response to the Reserve Bank’s ban on surcharges.<\/p>\n
The tax office had argued it would cost taxpayers about $200 million a year to absorb the fees and noted only 5 per cent of small businesses used a credit card to pay their tax bill.<\/p>\n
But the decision sparked widespread backlash from small businesses, with several Albanese government ministers also raising concerns about the impact of the ATO’s ban.<\/p>\n
The government said the ATO had explored a number of options, including engaging with credit card companies to negotiate lower fees, but was unsuccessful.<\/p>\n
Government knew of looming changes\u00a0<\/p>\n
Mr Chalmers said the government had become aware the ATO was considering the changes before September.\u00a0<\/p>\n
“In the lead-up to that decision, we were made aware, but I don’t know the specific timing,” he said.\u00a0<\/p>\n
He said the government insisted on a transition period, which was initially planned from October to November.\u00a0<\/p>\n
The credit card ban was announced by the ATO after the Reserve Bank of Australia, which is independent, banned credit card surcharges across the board, a move hailed by Labor as a cost-of-living win for taxpayers.<\/p>\n
Earlier in the week, Australian Chamber of Commerce and Industry (ACCI) chief executive Andrew McKellar had called for a “clear message from government” in support of small business.<\/p>\n
Mr McKellar welcomed news of the extension and said the organisation would continue engaging constructively to find a long-term solution.\u00a0<\/p>\n
“This announcement provides some much needed breathing space for small business. Now there must be genuine consultation with business on this,” he said.\u00a0<\/p>\n
Yesterday, Housing Minister Clare O’Neil defended the Reserve Bank’s decision to scrap the credit card fees, but argued the government had “real concerns” about what the ATO was proposing.<\/p>\n
“We really want the ATO to go back and talk to business about what they have decided to do here and think about how they can find a solution that works for everyone,” \u00a0she said.<\/p>\n
Members of the crossbench had also raised concerns about the change, with independent Kate Chaney calling on the ATO to reconsider or grant businesses a longer grace period to adjust.<\/p>\n
“Credit cards are one way businesses manage cash flow when a tax bill lands. Removing that option with around eight weeks’ notice makes things harder,” she said.<\/p>\n
The treasurer said costs for the extension would be finalised in the mid-year budget update, or MYEFO, due in December.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"A ban on credit card payments to the Australian Taxation Office (ATO) will be delayed until next year,…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":921324,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[11],"tags":[489078,489076,64,63,99,18289,489077,164,489079,6547],"class_list":["post-921323","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","category-economy","tag-ato-credit-cards","tag-ato-payments","tag-au","tag-australia","tag-business","tag-credit-card-ban","tag-credit-card-surcharge","tag-economy","tag-paying-tax-with-credit-card","tag-tax-bill"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/921323","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=921323"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/921323\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/921324"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=921323"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=921323"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=921323"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}