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Parliamentary Joint Committee on Public Accounts and Audit
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Preliminary pages
Foreword
This is the first report into the biannual hearings with the
Commissioner of Taxation from the Joint Committee of Public Accounts and Audit
(the Committee). The hearings resulted from a recommendation made by the
Committee in Report 410: Tax Administration. The rationale for the
hearings was to provide a mechanism whereby dialogue between the Australian
Taxation Office (ATO) and the Parliament could be promoted. The hearings have
traditionally provided an opportunity for Members of the Committee to scrutinise
issues surrounding tax administration. Integrity in the way tax is collected is
a critical foundation block of the Australian taxation system. Whilst evidence
suggests in the majority of cases this done well, the Committee has decided to
upgrade its oversight of the ATO due to concerns that complaints, or errors,
are not addressed with the speed they deserve.
There have been public hearings with the Commissioner of
Taxation since 2007 but previously no reports have been tabled. The Committee
in the 43rd Parliament is seeking to expand the Parliament’s role
with regards to the scrutiny of the ATO. In a bi-partisan way the Committee
determined to prepare a report on the biannual hearing as a mechanism through
which to increase scrutiny of the ATO and transparency to the public.
In keeping with the goal of increasing scrutiny of the ATO,
the Committee will be enlarging future biannual hearings to include public
evidence from external scrutiny bodies such as the Ombudsman, the Australian
National Audit Office and the Inspector General of Taxation as well as peak
industry and consumer bodies. The Committee also anticipates that one of its
key responsibilities will be monitoring proposed changes to the taxation system
and working to ensure that the ATO is sufficiently supported and positioned to
implement any proposed changes.
The Committee intends this report to open a dialogue with
the ATO and to create a foundation upon which future hearings will build. We
look forward to continuing and further cultivating a productive relationship
with the ATO, one which encourages and promotes scrutiny and transparency and
increases confidence in the ATOs work. This report has made a number of
recommendations which are aimed at ensuring the ATO provides the Committee with
sufficient and timely advice prior to the next biannual hearing to facilitate
improved scrutiny, and ultimately leading to better results, and even greater
confidence in the integrity of our tax system.
In conclusion, I would like to thank Committee colleagues
for their work on this inquiry, and the hard working diligent secretariat of
the Joint Committee of Public Accounts and Audits for their on-going work. I
also thank representatives of the ATO who made themselves available to attend
the hearing and look forward to a positive response from them to greater
interest and oversight from the 43rd Parliament.
Rob Oakeshott
Chair
Membership of the Committee
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Chair |
Mr Robert Oakeshott MP |
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Deputy
Chair |
Mrs Yvette D’Ath MP |
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Members |
Hon Dick Adams MP |
Senator Guy Barnett |
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Mr Jamie Briggs MP |
Senator Mark Bishop |
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Ms Gai Brodtmann MP |
Senator Annette Hurley |
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Mr Darren Cheeseman MP |
Senator Helen Kroger |
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Mr Josh Frydenberg MP |
Senator Glenn Sterle |
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Ms Deb O’Neill MP |
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Ms Laura Smyth MP |
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Hon Alexander Somlyay MP |
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Committee Secretariat
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Secretary |
Mr David Brunoro |
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Inquiry
Secretary |
Ms Penny Wijnberg |
| Administrative
Officers |
Mrs Dorota Cooley |
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Ms Katrina Gillogly |
List of abbreviations
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ATO |
Australian Taxation Office |
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GST |
Goods and Services Tax |
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ICT |
Information and Communication
Technology |
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TFN |
Tax File Number |
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the Commissioner |
Commissioner of Taxation |
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the Committee |
Joint Committee of Public
Accounts and Audit |
List of recommendations
1 Biannual
hearing with the Commissioner of Taxation
Recommendation 1
The Committee recommends that the Australian Taxation Office
move to using a traffic light reporting system when reporting publicly on its
achievements against benchmarks, in particular its achievements against its
Service Standards.
Recommendation 2
The Committee expects the next submission to the biannual
hearing from the Australia Taxation Office to contain explicit consideration
of, and reporting on action taken to improve complaint handling and address the
underlying causes of complaints.
Recommendation 3
The Committee recommends that the Australian Taxation Office,
in its submission for the next biannual hearing, explicitly state and detail
actions for the following:
- areas
of improvement since the last hearing; and
- planned
future improvements.
Recommendation 4
The Committee recommends that the Australian Taxation Office’s
submission to the next biannual hearing includes a report on compliance
activities, specifically action taken to make compliance easier and improve
communications.
Recommendation 5
The Committee recommends that the Australian Taxation Office
details the process for developing implementation plans for policy, as part of
its submission for the next biannual hearing.
Recommendation 6
The Committee recommends that the next submission to the
biannual hearing details the status of the 900 current cases of compromised tax
file numbers, including actions taken to resolve the issue and reasons for
delay, should some remain unresolved.
Recommendation 7
The Committee recommends that the next submission to the
biannual hearing details the Australian Taxation Office’s responses to
recommendations made by external review agencies such as the Australian
National Audit Office, the Commonwealth Ombudsman and the Inspector General of
Taxation.
Recommendation 8
The Committee recommends that the Australian Taxation Office
respond to written reports and recommendations made by external scrutiny bodies
in writing.
Recommendation 9
The Committee recommends that the Australian Taxation Office
provide the Joint Committee of Public Accounts and Audit with its submission to
the biannual hearing with the Commissioner of Taxation at least a month before
the next hearing.
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