Review: Investigation and exploration of undisputed tax debts in Australia

The report presents a summary and analysis of a large amount of data as supplied by the Australian Taxation Office (ATO). The data relates to levels of undisputed tax debts (and changes in these debts) over the past several years, commencing in FY16 and ending in FY20 – that is, as reported at 30 June in each financial year. The report delivers a number of key related insights and makes five recommendations for consideration by the ATO as outputs from the investigation.

The report is a key piece of research intended to provide Australian taxpayers, tax practitioners, government and business with a detailed understanding of where tax debts are accruing in the tax system and occurring in the economy.

Documents and downloads

Review: Goods and Services Tax refunds

Our review into Goods and Services Tax (GST) refunds
arose from concerns raised through the our complaints handling service and during consultation to develop the 2017 work program. These concerns included the accuracy of the ATO’s risk assessment tools, its engagement with taxpayers and its efforts to minimise adverse impacts on affected taxpayers.

We reviewed the end-to-end process involved in refund verification including from initial case selection through to the review and audit activities. Overall, we found that the ATO’s administration of GST refunds operated efficiently with the vast majority of refunds released without being stopped for verification.

We made 5 recommendations (comprising 16 parts), all of which were agreed either in full or in part.

Downloads and documents

Review: Debt collection

This review was prompted by concerns raised by individuals, small businesses, tax and insolvency practitioners as well as their representative bodies. Broadly, these concerns related to the Australian Taxation Office’s (ATO) ability to recover tax debts effectively whilst ensuring that its actions were proportionate to circumstances of the affected taxpayers.

Overall, we made 19 recommendations to 16 of which the ATO has agreed, agreed in principle or agreed in part. The ATO has disagreed with 2 recommendations and considered that one recommendation was a matter for Government.

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Review: Aspects of the Australian Taxation Office’s use of compliance risk assessment tools

Our review into aspects of the Australian Taxation Office’s (ATO) use of compliance risk assessment tools was prompted by concerns raised about their effectiveness by taxpayers, tax practitioners and their representative bodies. It had also been identified as a review topic during the course of previous reviews.

Stakeholders have acknowledged that it is appropriate for the ATO to adopt a risk-based approach in its compliance strategy. In fact, most comparable revenue authorities take such an approach to make the best use of their resources in protecting government revenue.

Our report makes 16 recommendations to the ATO, all of which have been agreed.

Documents and downloads