On 8 August 2014, the Commissioner delivered an address to the Council of Small Business of Australia (COSBOA) 12th National Small Business Summit 2014 held in Melbourne.
Mr Jordan discussed how the ATO can reduce tax administration burdens and simplify interactions with the ATO to give small businesses the space to focus on running and growing their businesses. He said the ATO has been co-designing a number of initiatives with small businesses to provide convenient, accessible and contemporary personalised ATO services. For example, he said the ATO’s app, which provides a range of small business and superannuation information, has been given 4 out of 5 stars by 80% of the users. Mr Jordan said the ATO continues to refine its online business viability assessment tool, and that the ATO will soon add this to its app.
Mr Jordan also noted that “to date”, there are 100 small business owners that have registered to be part of the ATO’s Small Business Consultation Panel to help it on an “as needs” basis. Furthermore, he said the ATO was also working closely with small business to remedy specific issues through its cross-agency Small Business Fix-It Squads. These Fix-it Squads are rapid-design groups made up of small business operators and intermediaries, and representatives from federal, state and local government, all working together to examine problems and solutions from the perspective of small business.
[LTN 153, 11/8/14]