Standing Committee on Economics, Finance and Public
Administration
Media release: 31 March 2000
ATO TAX FILE NUMBER PROBLEMS HEARING CONTINUES MONDAY 9.45am
Improved administration of tax file numbers by the Australian Taxation
Office could add more than $500m to the Commonwealth Budget by uncovering
fraud that currently goes undetected.
Options to reform aspects of the ATO's administration of the TFN system
will be discussed with the Department of Finance and Administration, Treasury
and the Child Support Agency when the House Economics Committee holds
its next TFN hearing in Canberra on Monday 3 April 2000.
Committee Chairman, Mr David Hawker MP, said, 'DoFA, Treasury and the
CSA are well positioned to comment on the benefits that can be gained
from improving the TFN system.'
'DoFA plays a central role in determining the annual Commonwealth Budget
allocations and has a key responsibility in ensuring efficient operation
of departments through, for example, Pricing Agreements that are negotiated
with government agencies. DoFA will be asked about these in relation to
the ATO.'
'Treasury has a central role in developing taxation policy and is therefore
ideally placed to be questioned about the impact of poor systems on policy
implementation and the broader policy issues raised in the audit report.'
Treasury will also be asked about the arrangements for the maintenance
of the ABN, considering the existing shortcomings of TFNs (including 3.2
million more TFNs than there are taxpayers), and the potential problems
of duplicate numbers and reporting requirements.
'The CSA is heavily reliant on ATO data and the TFN system in administering
child support', said Mr Hawker. 'This means that limits in data and systems
quality identified by the Auditor-General's report on TFNs can affect
CSA business. Any data matching is also limited by the shortcomings of
ATO data. The CSA provides an example of how the flow-on effects of the
TFN system can have whole-of-government consequences.'
'DoFA, Treasury and the CSA will also be asked to comment on options
for extending the TFN quotation regime to reduce the risk to revenue that
was raised initially by the Auditor-General and the integrity and quality
of ATO's systems and TFN data, which have serious whole-of-government
consequences', said Mr Hawker.
Ends // 31 March 2000
Further information:
David Hawker MP (Chairman) 02 - 6277 4100 (Parliament House)
Melissa Stutsel (Principal Research Officer) 02 - 6277 2319
Email: EFPA.Reps@aph.gov.au
Public Hearing Program
Date: Monday 3 April
Time:  9.45am - 10.30am Department
of Finance and Administration
10.30am
- 11.15am Treasury
11.15am
- 12.00pm Child Support Agency
Location: Committee Room 2R1, Parliament
House, Canberra
Note: The hearing is to be broadcast on the Parliamentary Internet site
at: http://webcast.aph.gov.au/livewebcast1.asp
Information on the progress of the inquiry is available on the Committee's
website at: http://www.aph.gov.au/house/committee/efpa/TFNaudit/tfnindex.htm
Committee Membership 39th Parliament
Chairman: Mr David Hawker MP
Deputy Chairman: Mr Gregory Wilton MP
Members:
Mr Anthony Albanese MP
Ms Anna Burke MP
Ms Teresa Gambaro MP
Mrs Kay Hull MP
Mr Mark Latham MP
Mr Christopher Pyne MP
Hon Alex Somlyay MP
Dr Andrew Southcott MP
For a copy of the Audit Report No 37 - Management of Tax File Numbers:
Contact the Australian National Audit Office (02 6203 7685) or their
website http://www.anao.gov.au
Or Government Info Shops or their website http://www.ausinfo.gov.au
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