ATO’s website freezes as thousands try to access early release super

Australians desperate to get a second tranche of cash out of their super accounts caused the Australian Taxation office’s website to crash today.

In the first hour of the new financial year, so many tried to access their accounts, the website froze and the ATO was forced into an embarrassing apology, saying: “We are currently experiencing a high volume of traffic.”

The early access scheme is part of the government’s stimulus response for the coronavirus crisis, and has proved a huge hit with as much as $17.1 billion being taken from 2.4 million accounts.