The Australian Tax Office has offered a reprieve to accountants struggling with the new MYOB software, saying it would take note of computer problems when considering requests for extra time. Last week, the ATO advised tax agents they could request a deferral by outlining their software problems. Decisions would then be made on a case by case basis.

The ATO said only a small number of tax agents had been affected, and MYOB maintains that fewer than 100 accounting firms have had serious issues since they moved in late June from older software to MYOB's Accountants Enterprise Tax. Some of those affected, however, believe the software company is understating the problem.

"If only a handful are having problems, why have there been times in the last month when we haven't even been able to get our support calls put on hold?" said an office manager from a medium-sized practice in Victoria. "We've been told there are 400 on-hold positions - and when we do make one of those, sometimes we have waited for more than two hours." "The whole episode has been very disappointing. The amount of time we have wasted is extraordinary," said the officer, who declined to be named.

Paul O'Connor, who owns a small accountancy practice in Cairns, said he was likely to miss a deadline last Friday, even though a service pack releases from MYOB had now fixed some of the problems. "At least it's working now," he said. "But it's disappointing the program still can't process an amended return. That's a pretty standard feature." Mr O'Connor wrote to MYOB chief executive Craig Winkler last week in an effort to get some help. "We had a nice response but in the end it is us - and our clients - who suffer," he said.

Yesterday, MYOB was still unable to say when a second service pack would be released. Originally expected to be delivered in July, the service pack will enable data to be transferred directly from a client's accounts into a business activity statement, and then from the BAS to a tax return. The function is standard in older programs and, with a BAS deadline looming, many MYOB customers are running out of patience.

MYOB managing director Australia Tim Reed said yesterday that there had been a steady reduction in average call wait times, but he would not quantify how long the average wait was. The second service pack was on track. "We're working to finalise development, test it and get it out to clients as quickly as possible," he said. Mr Reed said it was a "contained set" of clients who had problems, but added, "a single unhappy client is one too many for me. We're committed to ensuring that every one of those clients is working effectively in the short term, and indeed very satisfied with the software in the long term."