Reporting to Centrelink...

...that you don't have to put a tax return in.

So today I thought I'd better let centrelink know that I'm not putting in a tax return this year again. Only things have apparantely changed now. Unlike every other year you have to now ring the ATO and get an exemption from there. Ok first time I've heard of it but apparantly this has been the case since 2009. Even though I didn't ring the ATO last year, it still has in my records that I received an exemption. So either the centrelink still took the info from their clients or they got the info from the ATO. Nevertheless, even though I didn't need to do it last year, I had to do it this year.

So then I ring the ATO who almost sent me to go and pick up a tax pack and fill in the exemption form and send it in, but then put me on hold and came back and asked me a few questions and declared that I'm now exempt. Then asks me if I wanted them to let ATO know (I thought I was on the phone to the ATO ) or fill in the form and send it in myself. I said for them to do it...then they proceeded to put me on hold again while they transfer me to someone who can do that for me. (Why couldn't she?)

A guy comes on and instead of merely putting through the exemption and giving me some sort of number (or something...I had no idea what centrelink needed) to give to centrelink, he had a look at my file and it seems I am 'outstanding' (that's the word he used) in my tax returns for the last however many years. Well duh...because I've been exempt because I haven't worked. And the fact that no employer has witheld tax for me didn't give the ATO a hint that I wasn't working.

Apparantly I had to ring them every year and tell THEM I'm exempt (and yet centrelink want me to call them to find out if I'm exempt, but they don't know until I tell them...so why can't I just tell centrelink like every other year ). He then used scare tactics and told me I risk being fined for not putting in a tax return, even though I don't have to WTF???

Meanwhile I ask him several times if he could just give me an exemption number to give to centrelink, to which he played dumb by saying that there isn't any number or anything for me to give me and that he didn't deal with centrelink nor are they linked with centrelink (funny since they somehow miraculously know what my dh's income was for the last financial year...but they're not linked )

So a lot of holding went on with me getting more irate because this was a 13 number and this guy wasn't making sense to me. He then asks if I want him to update my file...which I agreed then had to be put on hold AGAIN for about 5 mins while he does that, because he apparantely needed me sitting on hold while he did it, only to take me off hold and proclaim that it is now done and for me to call the ATO every year, in future.

Then...

He tells me to tell centrelink that a 'return was not necessary' and to quote this receipt number XXXXXXX.

Umm hello?? Didn't I like ask for this several times???

I ended up being rude and saying.....

"THANK YOU!! Now if you had given me that like about 45 mins ago I would have been satisfied and hung up...like this...." Then hung up on him!