The ATO (Australian Tax Office) has remained stalwart on its position in compelling Australian taxpayers to submit tax returns electronically via Windows-only applications.

A help topic put up on ATO's website attributes the absence of Linux and Mac-supported software for the e-tax to priorities on compatibility with tax law making.

"Only once we have allocated the information technology (IT) resources necessary to achieve this can other enhancements be considered," the help topic reads.

Privacy, security, and software compatibility with internal tax structures are mentioned as justifications for utilizing the Windows-only applications as well.

"We understand that some computing platforms will not be compatible with the e-tax software and we apologise for any inconvenience this may cause," the post states.

"However, we have a responsibility to the entire taxpaying community to balance our limited IT resources so that we can make the necessary changes to update e-tax each income year to accommodate changes to tax legislation."

Software for Macs may be presented in the future once the tax agency completes its system wide Change program, a beleaguered IT systems upgrade worth $750 million that been underway since 2004.

For those companies and individuals not using a Windows platform, the ATO recommends making use of alternative methods to settle their tax returns, such as the Boot Camp utility provided in Macs based on Intel hardware platforms.