The ATO helpfully provides two forms with each Tax Pack, in an uncharacteristic - for a government department - display that they are aware of the mind-boggling complexity of their forms. Every year, I sit down to do my tax, confident that I can just whip through it and everything will be fine. Yet every year, I find myself going back to the newsagent for a second - or last year, third - Tax Pack.

Really speaking, it shouldn't be that difficult. I work a minimum wage job, receive no government assistance, have no income from shares or property - the only complicating factor is my HECS debt, and all that requires me to do is tick a box. I add up two or three numbers, and drop the form in the mail. Easy, right?

Nup. Every year I stuff it up. I tick boxes where I should draw crosses. I transpose numbers everywhere - my tax file number, my income, my tax paid. I add things up wrong, or subtract things at random. I tick the boxes that say 'Tick here if you are a senior citizen'. I put things in the wrong boxes. I sign in the wrong places, or don't sign at all. On one memorable occasion, I misspelt my own name. W-I-S-E. I spell it out for people every day of my life (does it sound complicated?). I don't know why I'm struck with dyslexia at the merest sight of a form.

What I don't understand is why the ATO finds it necessary to put me through all this every year. They have all the records I do. They know how much I've earnt, what my employer's ABN is, how much tax I've paid, how big my HECS debt is. They do the same sums I do, and if my answers don't match theirs, I wonder whose conclusion would be the definitive one?

It's just double-handling, and it strikes me as utterly pointless. How hard would it be for them to add everything up at the end of the year, and send me a cheque? (Or a bill, but preferably a cheque.) It would save them the cost of printing a tax pack (or two, or three) for everyone in the country, the cost of staffing a call centre to deal with the plaintive and confused phone calls, the hassle of dealing with what I imagine are reams of hate mail, and generally a lot of grief. I bet they don't even read the tax returns anyhow - and I say that with some degree of assurance, given that, for the last five years, I've submitted returns that are not only riddled with errors, but which contain complete fabrications in the matter of my health insurance. I suppose it's not beyond the realm of possiblity that my imaginings have hit on the truth, but somehow I supect that's not the case.

I'm not sure what my conclusion is here, beyond the fact that I should like very much to believe that there's a better way. I am prepared for disaster, with a total of four forms in front of me - one of which I've already ruined by ticking the box marked 'Male'. I'd like the ATO to fix their ridiculous system, but failing that, if there's anyone out there who wants to come round and fill out my forms, drink tea and watch Doctor Who, you're more than welcome.