How does the Tax Office work out my PAYG instalment amount?
If you have an ‘ATO instalment amount’ printed at box T7 on your activity statement, you can choose to pay this amount. Because the information we have available to calculate the instalment amount is generally based on business and investment income from your last income tax return, the law provides for an adjustment to reflect expected growth in income. When this instalment option was made available, it was announced the adjustment would be made in line with movement in Australia’s gross domestic product (GDP). For the 2002—03 year the GDP-adjustment is 6%, based on information provided by the Australian Bureau of Statistics.
