The Australian Taxation Office has announced it will publish all findings made by its external scrutineers and the outcomes and improvements from implementing suggested recommendations.

 

"Our role is to deliver world class administration of the tax and superannuation systems that support and funds services for all Australians," said Tax Commissioner Michael D'Ascenzo.

 

"We continue to act responsively to Parliament and our scrutineers as well as being transparent and accountable to the Australian public.

 

"Part of how we do this is to be open to external scrutiny and responsive to recommendations made by our scrutineers such as the Australian National Audit Office (ANAO) and the Inspector General of Taxation (IGT) and the Commonwealth Ombudsman. We are one of the most scrutinised Australian government agencies.

 

"Our decision to publish this material will allow people to track what we have done in the implementation of recommendations, what we have already introduced and where we are in the process of implementation of recommendations."

 

To start this process the ATO has selected three recent audits and reviews which were carried out by the ANAO and IGT.

 

"This is just the first step in our commitment to publish all recommendations from the audits and reviews of the ATO," said Mr D'Ascenzo

 

"Ultimately all audits and reviews done by scrutineers in relation to the ATO since 2010 will be published and from now on this site will be updated quarterly throughout the year.

 

"The three we have initially selected deal with issues affecting a large cross section of the community.


"Compliance in the small to medium market, audit policies, procedures and practices in the large business sector and a review into our change program are all very significant."

 

Mr D'Ascenzo said the ATO will generally agree to the external scrutineers' recommendations but pointed out sometimes that isn't the case.

 

"For example it may be a good idea but just not achievable against other demands, we may not be able to currently afford it or it may be a policy matter for Government," said Mr D'Ascenzo.

 

"Also not all recommendations are the same and some may be easy to implement where others may need significant system changes and can take some time to introduce."

 

Mr D'Ascenzo said ultimately the decision to publish was an effort to further enhance the ATO's responsiveness and transparency to Government, the Parliament, scrutineers and the community.


Read the findings made by the ATO's external scrutineers.