The Australian National Audit Office’s Report No 19 assessing the effectiveness of the ATO’s complaints and other feedback management systems in supporting service delivery was tabled in Parliament today [Wed 12.2.2014]. The report noted that the ATO said the main reasons for complaints in recent years were: audit and review activities, in particular concerning the Income Tax Return Integrity Program; refund delays; delays in processing; and access issues, in particular the length of wait times. The 3 most common issues for complainants in 2012-13 were: registrations (23% of complaints); form processing (19%); and account management (16%).
The focus of the ANAO audit was primarily on the ATO’s management of complaints. The report said the significant increase in the number of complaints received by the ATO in the 3 years from 2009-10, averaging over 42,000 for that period, contributed to a marked decline in taxpayer satisfaction with the complaints handling processes in 2011-12. The Community Perceptions Survey (July 2012) and Professionalism Survey (May 2012) both identified complaints handling as an area requiring improvement.
The ANAO made 3 recommendations, all agreed to by the ATO, aimed at improving the ATO’s handling of complaints and its monitoring and reporting of performance in managing complaints. It said opportunities remain to more fully address the principles of fairness, accessibility, responsiveness, integration and efficiency outlined in the Commonwealth Ombudsman’s Better Practice Guide to Complaint Handling. There are, the report said, also opportunities to improve complaints handling practices, including better understanding of issues which were the subject of complaints and the needs of complainants. The report also noted that given that a major cause of complaints relates to processing issues, there would be scope for the ATO to identify changes to processing arrangements that may reduce the number of such complaints.
[LTN 28, 12/2/14]