Assistant Treasurer David Bradbury on Wed 13.2.2013, released the Inspector-General of Taxation’s Review into improving the self-assessment system, together with the responses by the Government and the ATO.
The Inspector-General made 33 recommendations to the ATO and the Government on ways to improve taxpayer certainty, reduce compliance costs and rebalance taxpayer protections. [The Inspector-General had given his report to the Minister on 24 August 2012.]
- The ATO agreed with 15 recommendations (in full, in part or in principle) and disagreed with one.
- The Government has agreed with 11 recommendations (in full or in principle), disagreed with one and notes the others pending further consideration.
The Government disagreed with the recommendation that it should consider introducing legislation to ensure that penalties and interest do not apply where: (i) there is no public ATO advice (binding or non-binding) available on a substantial issue; and (ii) the taxpayer took reasonable care in assessing their liability in relation to that issue.
The ATO disagreed with the recommendation that it should re-instate TaxPack to its former scope and declare as public rulings the entire contents of Tax Pack, e-tax and web-based individual income tax return lodgment systems.
The Government noted the recommendation that it should consider commissioning an appropriate independent body, such as the Productivity Commission, to publicly report on the cost of taxation related compliance, including taxpayers’ costs and the overall cost to the economy.
Source: Assistant Treasurer’s press release No 011, 13 February 2013
[LTN 13/2/13]