What are the Australian Tax Office thinking!
OK, E-Tax is better than doing the old paper based tax return, but (like many government departments) the ATO have tried to maintain the level of complexity to ensure that no one has a positive 'tax return experience'
Exhibit A: Title
This should be the easy part... we haven't even hit anything to do with dollars yet! What do you think the four most common titles would be for a tax payer in Australia? My quick assumption (and please post a comment if you disagree) would be Mr, closely followed by Mrs, Ms, and Miss. I would go a step further (and again assume) that at least 90% of the population would share one of those four titles.
Alphabetical order is a great thing... but not in situations like this! The first option for title in E-tax is Abbot. Not many of them in Australia (relative to the general population). The third option for title is Air Chief Marshall. You can count the number of Air Chief Marshalls in Australia on one hand!
You will find Mr as option 78 in the drop-down list. Mrs at 79, Ms at 80, and Miss at 75. Some notable (and very rare) titles you scroll past on the way are
- Cardinal
- Commissioner
- Duke
- Earl
- His/Her Royal Highness
To make the software more usable and efficient, and less confusing and frustrating... in this instance is simple. Mr, Mrs, Ms and Miss should be on top of the list, and then the rest of the titles in alphabetical order. A great example of this is when you book on-line with Qantas. The most popular destinations (Capital Cities, and major Tourist Centres) are on the top of the list, and then all others are in alphabetical order.
User experience matters! Even when lodging your tax return.
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