Monthly Archives: May 2019

AG won’t stop prosecution of Richard Boyle – the ATO ‘whistleblower’ who went public on Four Corners about garnishee abuses – after his failed attempt to make protected disclosure under the Public Interest Disclosure Act 2013

Australian Financial Review, p.40, Monday 29 April 2019 – written by Adele Feguson – link to article Tax Technical observations: For anyone interested in this, it is well worth following the links embedded in this article. Richard Boyle attempted to make protected disclosures under Commonwealth public service whistleblower legislation: Public Interest Disclosure Act 2013, and…

Small Business Ombudsman reaches different conclusions to the IGT on ATO collection practices – following same Four Corners allegations

The prominent Kate Carnell, in her capacity as the Australian Small Business and Family Enterprise Ombudsman, issued an important report, on the ATO’s debt collection practices, including ‘garnishee notices’, which challenges contrary conclusions by the IGT one month earlier (see related Tax Technical article) and the Commissioner’s response to this apparent vindication (see related TT…

ATO issues statement on the same day IGT reported that there was no evidence of ‘garnishee’ abuse in the ATO

In March 2019, the Commissioner issued a statement welcoming the apparent vindication of his office, in the Inspector General’s (IGT) report on allegations of garnishee notice abuses, aired in the ABC’s Four Corners program, nearly one year earlier (in April 2018) [see related Tax Technical Article]. I doubt that we have heard the last of…

IGT investigation into ATO’s use of garnishee notices for a ‘cash grab’ irrespective of taxpayer circumstances – no evidence

On 13 March 2019, the IGT handed down his self initiated inquiry into whether an ATO ‘whistleblower’s allegations were correct – in the  ABC’s Four Corners program [see related TT Article]. The IGT found ‘no evidence’ to support these allegations. The Commissioner welcomed this report [see related TT Article]. The ‘Australian Small Business Ombudsman’ Kate…