The Tax Office ruled out a census-style "denial of service" attack as the reason for the loss of its entire website, saying the mass failure was due to hardware problems "not being caused by any external factors".
The website became inaccessible from computers and mobile devices at around 9.30am eastern daylight time.
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ATO: Get your deductions right
If you are an employee you may be able to claim a deduction for some costs related to your job. There are rules that you need to check and records you need to keep.
Visitors to the ATO website receive a message saying "Our website is currently not available. We apologise for the inconvenience and assure you of our commitment to provide you with the best possible experience of using our online services. We thank you for your patience as we work to restore our services."
The ATO tweeted at 9.30am: "We're investigating issues with online services, portals & our website as a priority. Apologies for inconvenience. Stay tuned for updates."
We’re investigating issues with online services, portals & our website as a priority. Apologies for inconvenience. Stay tuned for updates. pic.twitter.com/zNMxJqpniw
— ato.gov.au (@ato_gov_au) December 11, 2016
Labor Treasury spokesman Andrew Leigh tweeted: "I know the Turnbull govt opposes tax transparency, but this is ridiculous."
In 2004 the Tax Office hired the consultancy firm Accenture to modernise its computer systems for a fixed price of $445 million. The Audit Office found that by 2010 when it took the system live the cost had blown out to $756.7 million.Â
The Inspector General of Taxation reported on teething problems including negative taxable income figures being sent to Centrelink as positive, refund letters being set out without refund cheques and as many as one million tax returns delayed. Â
The ATO diverted 1200 staff from other duties to answer phones and process forms.
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