ATO use of 'access without notice' powers sound

A Commonwealth and Taxation Ombudsman report has found that the Australian Taxation Office (ATO) has established sound guidelines in the use of its ‘access without notice’ powers.

Commonwealth and Taxation Ombudsman Professor John McMillan said the ATO had established appropriate procedures for exercising its coercive powers, which have been used in exceptional circumstances where there was a risk that documents may be destroyed if notice was given.

The ‘access without notice’ powers allow the ATO to enter a business or private premises without the owner’s permission to examine and copy documents relevant to an investigation

McMillan said the findings in the report follow a random audit in 2009 that included observing a coordinated, simultaneous multi—site access without notice visit in several states and a thorough review of various files and other documentation.

“The ATO takes the use of its access without notice powers seriously and has established a set of sound guidelines and manuals to assist its staff to apply the powers,” said McMillan.

“This is the second Ombudsman investigation into the ATO’s access without notice powers in the past 10 years and it confirms that taxpayers can feel confident that the ATO is exercising these powers in the manner in which it should.”

The Ombudsman’s report, ‘Australian Taxation Office: Use of access without notice powers’, is available from http://www.ombudsman.gov.au/reports/investigation/2010.