The Australian National Audit Office (ANAO) has released its Performance Audit Report No 54 2011-12 on the effectiveness of the ATO’s administration of external debt collection arrangements.
The ANAO reported that during the period of outsourced arrangements (from October 2007 to December 2011), the ATO referred 1.8m debt cases worth around $7bn to external collection agencies. Of this amount, the agencies collected $2bn (29.1% of the total debt referred) at a cost of $54m in agency fees.
The ANAO made 3 recommendations aimed at improving key aspects of the ATO’s administration of the referral program. The first recommendation is aimed at providing assurances that taxpayers’ information is being adequately protected and managed. The second is for the ATO to review its systems to maintain the integrity of its processes for selecting and referring debt cases to external agencies. The third relates to the better integration of the referral program into the ATO’s broader debt management strategy. The ATO has agreed to all 3 recommendations.
[LTN 123, 28/6]