Scrapping returns may be in tax paper: PM

Prime Minister Tony Abbott has left open the door for scrapping income tax returns in the government's push to cut red tape, saying it could be dealt with in the forthcoming tax white paper.

Mr Abbott was announcing details of the government's website to monitor progress on its promise to cut $1 billion in red tape every year.

Asked if this would include households' biggest red tape hassle, the annual tax return, Mr Abbott said: "At this stage, no, but watch this space."

He said the government had a tax white paper that would be coming out in around 18 months time.

"This is obviously one of the issues that may be dealt with in that white paper," he told reporters in Canberra on Monday.

The Australian Taxation Office's latest statistics for the 2010/11 financial year showed that of the 12.6 million people who submitted a tax return, just over nine million paid a tax agent to complete the documentation.