Debt relief from the ATO not easy
The Australian Taxation Office (ATO) is being less than clear with taxpayers about their ability to have the tax office review decisions not to grant tax debt relief, according to a new Australian National Audit Office (ANAO) assessment.
The ANAO assessment looked at the ATO’s management of debt relief arrangements and found that while the tax office was fulfilling the vast majority of obligations and managing the system well, the information it provided with respect to how to pursue a review of debt relief decisions was less than clear.
“Taxpayers can request the ATO to review a decision not to grant relief from their debt.
However, information provided by the ATO about the main options for review is not clear in all instances,” the Auditor-General’s report said.
“Notably, the ATO website advises taxpayers that they cannot dispute or disagree with a general interest charge decision through the objections process, only advising taxpayers that they can contact the ATO to discuss the matter,” it said.
“Further, it does not advise that complaints and objections regarding release decisions are dealt with differently by the ATO.”
The ANAO review said that while the ATO’s processes for managing taxpayers’ objections were sound, “it would be helpful if the ATO better communicated the processes for disputing or disagreeing with their decisions”.
The review noted that there had been relatively few objections and reviews of the ATO’s debt release decisions upheld in recent years, with only four of 209 objections finalised in 2011-12 being upheld - representing less than 2 per cent.
It said that, similarly, one of 12 appeals to the Administrative Appeals Tribunal was upheld.
The ANAO report pointed out that the value of debts subject to some form of debt relief in 2011-12 was $4.6 billion.
It said that, of this amount, $2.4 billion was not pursued either because the debts were uneconomic to pursue or irrecoverable at law.
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