The ATO has released further details of its external compliance assurance process (ECAP) for taxpayers in the large market, including guideline materials for assurance practitioners when conducting agreed-upon procedures engagements under the ATO’s ECAP pilot program. The ATO said the intent of the pilot program is to test the effectiveness and viability of taxpayers using existing registered company auditors to conduct assurance on factual matters. If effective, the ATO said “this approach will reduce compliance costs and red tape for business taxpayers and ensure that the right amount of tax is being paid in Australia.”
The ATO said the objective of ECAP is to provide certainty more quickly to taxpayers by offering them the choice of nominating their statutory company auditor to undertake assurance work, leveraging their existing knowledge and understanding of the business and its natural systems, or for the ATO to undertake the assurance. The ATO said it will initiate the ECAP engagement with the taxpayer entity (the engaging party) by a letter identifying the matters to be assured. The engaging party will then consider their choice and may engage the assurance practitioner.
[LTN 120, 25/6/14]