Fri, 04/11 15:00PM · 38mins
Ky Wilson
Ruth, thank you so much for joining me today. I greatly appreciate you taking the time to come and hear members’ concerns and their feedback, and really grateful that you could be so open to the feedback.
Ruth Owen
Yes, nice to be here, Ky. Thanks for inviting me.
Ky Wilson
My pleasure. There’s been growing frustration with what our members see as increasing administrative burdens being placed on agents without the ATO providing adequate systems or services to support and cope. Every year, there seems to be more paperwork, more hoops to jump through. But what the members see is not a commensurate improvement to the ATO support channels. So, one of the biggest pain points that I’m sure you’ve heard a lot about is the ATO-dedicated agent phone line. The feedback I’m getting is pretty stark, mainly long hold times. And when you do finally get through, unskilled or inexperienced staff are on the other end, where members have described scenarios where the staff seem to be reading from scripts and not fully understanding the issues being addressed. This leads to incomplete or incorrect advice, which is obviously dangerous when we’re talking about tax compliance. An agent will call, get one answer, then call back another time and get a completely different response. It undermines confidence in the information. And if they try to escalate the issue to a team leader or manager, they’re told to wait for a call back that might take up to 28 days, nearly a month before hearing anything, that kind of delay for a pressing client manner is just not workable.
Ruth Owen
Yeah, I hear this a lot, Ky.
So, as you know, at the moment, we are undertaking a review of the ATO’s dedicated agent phone line and I have heard this feedback over and over again, which is why we set up the review in the first place. We’re in the middle of the review now, and I am still welcoming people to give me feedback. Evidence and examples are really important so I can evidence my findings. So, if anyone listening has got examples, please feel free to send them through to us at [email protected]. But yes, the reason I started this review in the first place is what I perceive as a mismatch of expectations between agents, for whom obviously time is precious, time is money, needing a service from the ATO, both online and on the phone, and not getting that through the dedicated agent phone line, and yet the ATO not understanding the need of the agents in particular. And the refrain I hear a lot from the ATO is, well, why don’t agents just use the portal or the online services for agents? So there really is a mismatch between the service required and the service on offer. And I think what you’ve highlighted, Ky, particularly, and I’m always really clear with everybody I speak to, I never ever want to criticise a member of the ATO staff, because I think they do an amazing job, it’s really, really hard. But they are not set up to succeed in the job that we’ve asked them to do in responding to agents’ requests, given agents are going to be asking probably more technical questions. So, we are looking at what’s the skill set that the ATO is using for that agent helpline? What’s the training? What’s the support? What’s the career pathway? All those things would help us work out how the ATO can ensure they’ve got the right expertise to be able to satisfy agents swiftly and correctly. So, you don’t have to try five times, you call at once and you get the answer that you need.
Ky Wilson
Agreed. We want to see everyone set up for success. Another related frustration is payment arrangements. Our members often report that the ATO is quite inflexible when it comes to setting up payment plans for clients. There’s a feeling that even when a client is genuinely trying to do the right thing, pay off debt, the arrangements are often very rigid, short timeframes, or refusal to extend deadlines. So the overall theme here is rising workload on the agents but declining support. Our members feel they are carrying more of the admin burden. And when they reach out for help or leniency, they feel they hit a wall of delays or inflexibility.
Ruth Owen
Now, this is a tough one, actually, because as we all know the ATO has got a primary focus on their debt book, on collecting debt, and there’s this kind of hangover from the COVID period. I think we all understand what ATO is trying to do in their debt management approach. But again, what you highlight from your members is a lot of taxpayers in tough times, right? There’s a lot of people doing it tough out there at the moment, trying to keep their businesses afloat, trying to keep their families fed, et cetera. They’re trying to pay their tax. They’re trying to maybe pay back some arrears that they’ve got, but they can’t do it at the level, the rate that the ATO expects, which is normally around 18 months to two years to pay it back. So again, we’ve got that mismatch of expectations of agents trying to help their clients pay back their tax. And we’re in this weird situation where people trying to pay their tax are having their plans rejected by the ATO. And of course, if your plan is rejected, there is no appeal right to that. And that could have severe consequences. As you know, that could start to get even more serious in terms of the action that the ATO could take. So, on payment plans and the debt strategy of the ATO, I am still very keen to hear everybody’s examples on where they’re struggling to get the right outcome from the ATO. And it may be something that we do a deeper dive into later in the year.
Ky Wilson
Yes, that’s a very fair assessment. You’ve really captured the tension between the ATO’s expectations and the genuine difficulties many taxpayers are facing. Turning to communication issues, there is a consistent theme of the ATO not effectively keeping agents in the loop, that’s the perception of my members. One issue is the ATO correspondence going directly to clients instead of to agents. Since a lot of clients have linked their ATO accounts to myGov, they’ve seen instances where important letters like notices of assessment, reminders for instalments, etc, are sent only to the client’s myGov inbox. The agent, who is supposed to be managing those tax affairs, might never see it. And as you know, when a taxpayer links the ATO to their myGov, they effectively agree to receive ATO mail electronically themselves rather than going through their agent. The ATO did introduce an option for agents to view most correspondence via the online portal, but in practice our members find that there are gaps. The ATO’s guidance says you and your agent can view most correspondence sent to you, most but not all. And indeed, we’ve had cases where something has been sent to clients myGov and has never appeared in the agent’s inbox, or it has appeared much later. I’m sure you’d agree that’s quite problematic. For example, there might be an agent that is completely unaware that the ATO has sent the client a reminder for a debt or a lodgment. And if the client misses it, which happens, especially if they’re not tech-savvy or not checking emails daily, the next thing that happens is a default or a penalty. The agent is blindsided. The ATO’s expectation is conveyed to agents informally, as the agents should lodge in the online services for agents every single day to check for a client correspondence. And I’m sure you’d agree that’s quite impractical. When you’re managing hundreds of clients, it’s not realistic to manually monitor every client’s account daily on the other chance that something has appeared.
Ruth Owen
Yes, here is another example of that mismatch of expectations again, isn’t it? I can really empathise with agents where if you’ve got a client who rings you up and says, what on earth is this about? And you’re struggling because you don’t even know what it is, you haven’t seen that correspondence. And I understand the importance of the trust relationship between agent and client, you don’t want to look like you don’t know what you’re doing because the client’s got the letter and you haven’t. So again, I think it’s putting ourselves collectively in the shoes of the agent and really understanding what they need to be an effective arm of the tax system. And I think for me, I’ve only been in this role nine months, but that’s what I’ve really observed is the tax system obviously in Australia is quite complex, but it’s a big ecosystem where there are a large number of actors and players, obviously the ATO is sitting there in the middle, the agents across the nation, tax agents or BAS agents, accountants, etc, have all got a really, really critical role in engaging taxpayers in trying to pay their obligations, trying to meet their obligations, pay their tax. And if agents weren’t there, we’d be in a real mess. So just trying to get to this position of how do we help the ATO to do their job? And then how does the ATO help agents to do their job? And again, we’re just not at that place where the symbiotic is working well. So yes, I am keen to look at how things like correspondence and the use of the portal and the expectations required. I think it’d be fair to say I’ve met quite a few agents in my last nine months, everyone has a slightly different preference for how they manage their correspondence with their clients, etc. But this kind of visibility seems to be a critical issue. So, if we did do a review of online services for agents, which is on my kind of shortlist at the moment, clearly that would be an aspect that we’d be looking at.
And again, I welcome people’s input to that. Just as a reminder, while we are here Ky, my work plan for the next set of reviews that we’re going to undertake will be out next week, which is week commencing the 14th of April. So, look on my website, or you can get it into your newsletter. And then everyone can see I’ve got a list of 10 topics which I’ll be considering. We do four reviews a year now. Not all of those 10 will get selected. So, it’s your chance to have your say on where my time and my effort goes on behalf of the whole system.
Ky Wilson
Great, so members will be able to view this on igt.gov.au under investigations?
Ruth Owen
Yes that’s correct
Ky Wilson
Our members are also really concerned about vulnerable clients, particularly the elderly or those who have limited digital access. Many of them struggle with setting up MyGov or linking up the ATO and even if they do they might not understand how to navigate the inbox. One agent noted that they had an older client who had never realised they had a MyGov message about their tax until the agent found it long after the fact. So the push to digital communication whilst efficient in theory is creating real gaps in communication. Can I get you to share your thoughts on that?
Ruth Owen
Yes, because what I’ve come up with my team in the last few months is a framework by which we look at what does good tax administration look like? And number one is ease of access so that any taxpayer is clear how to access the system. I don’t mean the technology system but the actual tax system – how do they engage with the tax office and there’s public servants as part of the system and the tax office and of course myself as the ombudsman, we have to recognise there are Australians in different parts of the country not all of whom have digital access, not all of whom have the capability or capacity to just do stuff online. I think it’s an obligation of the ATO and myself as the ombudsman to make sure we can meet them where they are. It’s great to have online services and the vast majority of people want to self-serve, but you can’t assume everybody can. I know the ATO is working really hard on what they call their vulnerability capability and that’s to identify those people where the standard service doesn’t actually match their requirements. So I’m quite excited about that – that’s something that the new commissioner has led himself so I’m keen to be working alongside the ATO on that but it has to pick up these key principles that not everybody is online but everybody deserves access.
Ruth Owen
It really is, and this one is probably worse than an administrative nightmare to be honest. So, this is high up on my list. At the moment, as part of the review that we’re undertaking on the dedicated agent phone line, we are looking at client agent linking. That last point you made about the phone support troubleshooting and what help is there both for the agent and the client is what I’m picking up as the most pressing issue. And it links again to your vulnerable client’s issue as well – that is, the agent can phone up and try and get the help but actually the ATO says I can’t speak to you because you’re not actually linked, and the client may not be able to get the help that they need. So again you’re stuck in this catch 22 where the client has made the advance and they want the agent to be linked but the agent can’t help the client speak to the ATO to get there. So again, it’s like the system doesn’t quite match what we need. So, we will pick that up currently within this phone line review then when you see my top 10 shortlist, you’ll see the whole client agent linking system right up the top. It’s still bubbling away in that list – again have your say if you still think that’s one of the most important things for us to be looking at.
Ky Wilson
I love the notion of meeting them where they are, that’s a great leveler. The whole agent linking system that was rolled out to facilitate this, but our members say it has been a source of pain. I’ve heard it described as an administrative nightmare by more than one practitioner. The system requires the client to take several steps, obtaining or using the myGov ID, linking the ABN via the relationship authorisation manager, et cetera, just to authorise a new tax agent. Many small business clients find it confusing. One of our members relayed an anecdote from a small business client who became so frustrated with the new linking process. They said, it’s just too hard. I just won’t lodge my taxes or BAS until the ATO allows the agent to be connected. Now imagine that people feel that they can’t comply with their tax obligations simply because the process of appointing an agent is too cumbersome. That’s a lose-lose situation. So, we’re hearing that client agent linking requirements, while well-intentioned for security, are actually impeding compliance for some and adding a lot of extra work for agents. And when issues arise with that system, the phone support to troubleshoot our members feel has been lacking. So, it’s a bit of a double whammy, really.
Ky Wilson
Another area of concern is the ATO communication practices with different taxpayer segments. There is a perception among agents that the ATO is quick to engage with large businesses or high net worth individuals. For instance, if a big company is late on something or has a potential issue, the ATO might proactively call them or their agent or have a relationship manager discuss the issue, essentially giving them a chance to sort it out. But small businesses or ordinary individual taxpayers, by contrast, seem to be getting automated letters and harsh treatment, like a penalty notice arriving without any notice or prior discussion. To give an example, an agent told us about two clients. One was a sizeable company that had inadvertently missed a reporting deadline, and the ATO officer actually reached out, had a conversation, and they resolved it cooperatively, with no penalty. The other was a small sole trader who missed a BAS lodgement and simply got hit with a failure to lodge penalty in the mail. No phone calls, nothing. From the small business perspective, it feels very punitive, especially when they hear that bigger players are getting a gentler touch. I think our members understand that the ATO has dedicated teams for large market taxpayers, so there’s more of a personalised liaison there, whereas for the millions of small taxpayers, it’s more automated. But still, fairness should not depend on your size. Every taxpayer, big or small, would benefit from a conversation with the ATO before being slapped with fines. That’s feasible, don’t you think?
Ruth Owen
Yes, again, I think you’re right that everybody does understand that businesses of different sizes probably do get different treatment in terms of their liaison with ATO, but they shouldn’t get a different outcome. So it is about proportionality, isn’t it? I think we all know small businesses are doing it tough right now. We all know that. The ATO has a specific engagement model for high-net-worth individuals or large businesses, and that most individuals or small businesses go through the general helpline, etc. But you should be confident that, if you’re somebody trying to engage with the tax system, trying to meet your obligations, you are equally able to get the support and the information that you need to meet those obligations. I think we all recognise that the arrangements are going to be different because we’re talking about a small number to get a large amount of tax and then a large number of people to get a small amount of tax. But I still think being clear about what the support mechanism is for small businesses in particular is going to be really important, particularly in the next couple of years.
Ky Wilson
Can we talk about penalties and interest because that is another issue. First, the general interest charge (GIC) on tax debts. Members have voiced concerns about the remission of the GIC, specifically their criteria for getting interest remitted seemed very opaque and inconsistently applied. We’ve heard stories of two taxpayers in almost identical situations requesting interest to be remitted and one gets it approved while the other is denied with no clear reason. In fact, let’s talk outside our membership base. The CPA Australia recently told a Senate committee that their members saw inconsistent and wildly varying outcomes in the GIC and the shortfall interest charge (SIC) remission cases and it seemed to depend more on which officer handled it rather than on the facts of the case. In one example they gave, the same director had three companies in identical circumstances and applied for the GIC remission for each and got three different responses – even the letters he received from the ATO had different instructions on what to do next. That kind of inconsistency really frustrates agents and taxpayers alike and it feels quite arbitrary.
Ruth Owen
Of course, agents see that because they see multiple clients whereas an individual taxpayer you think you’re getting a reasonable service but you don’t know what everyone else is getting. So going back to my framework about what does good tax administration look like and consistency is yet another of those principles. And again, you’ll be pleased to know GIC remission is now top of my list of my top 10. So you’re hitting all my buttons Ky or likewise I’m hitting yours because it’s obviously very topical because of people experiencing tax debts at the moment. And we know because of it not being deductible from July this year, I think it’s very much front of mind for a lot of people and businesses in particular. But as you’ve picked up, that kind of the transparency is really important and must be at the heart of our tax system because we all rely on voluntary compliance. At the end of the day, that the tax system has to be built on trust and you can only really have an expectation of trust between taxpayer and the tax authority if you’ve got confidence that someone in the same circumstance as me is paying the same tax as me and is getting the same treatment as me. Agents sense this issue because they’ve got this overview of the lack of consistency which I think does go back to some of the training for some of the staff or the scripting or the checklist, whatever they’re using. The question I want to pose is how much more transparent can the ATO be about some of those checklists? Obviously we see their rulings, we see their PSLA statements, etc. I know they don’t want to give away all their secrets about how they make all their decisions but might it be useful for them to share when they’re making a judgment about something like remission, what are the key considerations they’ve got? So if you’re an agent and you’re getting your client ready to put a case forward you can always do the checklist yourself and say “Ruth there’s no point putting this one up because the ATO is never going to accept it” or you can say “Ruth I think this has got a good chance, let’s put it through and talk to the ATO about it”. So I think for your members and obviously agents more broadly, knowing how decisions are made is critical and that goes to the good relationship with agents but also goes to trust more taxpayers.
Ky Wilson
Yes, the link between trust, voluntary compliance, and perceived fairness is crucial—and it’s clear that agents, by virtue of their visibility across many clients, are uniquely positioned to identify where those inconsistencies lie. Can we discuss the failure to lodge penalties on backlog cases? This one really stings. When a client has multiple years of tax returns overdue and they finally get them lodged, in many cases all of those returns might show that the client is actually owed refunds or has no tax to pay. They may have been due refunds for years but for whatever reason, personal reasons, ignorance or fear they didn’t file them on time and that comes back to compliance. The ATO often applies that failure to lodge penalty for each late return even though the client doesn’t actually own any tax. So, you have situations where a vulnerable client who might be due say $5,000 in refunds over five years is instead maybe facing $1,200 in penalties. From an agent’s perspective that feels unfair, essentially punishing someone who albeit late was trying not to evade tax and is in fact owed money. We understand the ATO’s view that penalties encourage timely lodgements, regardless of refunds or the payable outcomes but we would argue for more discretion here. In practice agents often have to request remission for those penalties and that’s not always granted.
Ruth Owen
It’s a tricky one, this one, isn’t it? Because I think it was one of your members that brought this to my attention that it’s the order in which the ATO is processing some of those returns. So, if you do have a client that has gone several years without lodging, and they come to you as they do and say, please help me catch up, they’re trying to engage with the tax system. And if you put them through, sometimes the ATO won’t do them in the order that you think they’re going to do them in. So sometimes, as you say, they might end up with a refund due and then also a penalty due. So, I think this is something to get to the bottom of, in terms of how that’s actually happening. But again, it comes back to proportionality. So, people respect the tax system and that the penalties fit the crime. And if it is people who’ve experienced vulnerability or real difficulties in their business, then where’s the discretion within the system that people should be able to make a case for hardship or to put the debt on hold, etc?
Ky Wilson
Well that then runs into catching up on multiple lodgements. The due date for the current year’s return can change depending on those overdue lodgements. So for example, normally if a client is on an agent’s lodgement program, their current year might not be due until the May of the following year, but if they have one or more prior years still outstanding, the ATO will default to the due date of the current year.
Ruth Owen
It’s a weird one, that one, isn’t it? Yes, and again, that has been brought to my attention. I think that’s an intricacy of their systems and the way those default dates are set within the systems, depending on when prior years are lodged. But again, it’s a great example. And again, if people have got specific examples that I can actually use, please feel free to share because it’s so much easier to make a point with the ATO where I can say, look at this case. And I will always anonymise, so please don’t worry about sending cases in thinking your client will somehow be impacted.
Ky Wilson
Can we address the ATO’s review and dispute resolution processes, specifically objections and second-tier reviews? The sentiment among practitioners is that when they lodge an objection, the process often feels more like a mere formality and the original decision is almost always upheld without truly considering new arguments or information. In other words, agents feel the objection process isn’t giving a fresh set of eyes. We know objections are handled by a separate team within the ATO and it’s supposed to be an independent review of the case, but many have the impression that the objection officers tend to just defend or reiterate the initial audit position or the initial decision. And one agent said to me, it often feels like the objection reviewer has the same mindset as the original auditor, so what has really changed?
Ruth Owen
You might recall, I actually published a report about the objections process and administration about October last year. This was one of our findings that people had provided evidence to us that it didn’t feel like the objection was handled as that fresh pair of eyes and that the full statement of facts hadn’t been considered or the decision had been reconsidered. And of course, if you look at the decision, it’s much easier to reaffirm it than it is to say, hey, hang on a minute, let’s get right back to the beginning again. Without giving away any confidentiality, I can say I was with the ATO and their objections team yesterday and did raise this – i requested this of them and again, I respect that they have a complex job, but I have asked them to pause before they just reaffirm a decision that’s already been made and perhaps have a little bit more curiosity that if somebody is putting a fresh set of facts in front of them, they are going right back to the beginning and reviewing them as that’s how objections should work, as opposed to just looking at the decision and thinking that’s a decision that seems right. And I was able to give them a specific example. So, we’re still waiting for the implementation of some of those recommendations that I made last year. And I would like to see some changes in practice as a result of that.
Ky Wilson
Ye, we want the agents to feel like it’s worthwhile to put that objection in.
Ruth Owen
That’s right, and of course what we also want is ATO to learn from objections, so the best outcome is fewer objections because they’re getting it right first time.
Ky Wilson
Okay, there is a small cluster of issues that I’d just like to address with you while you’re here. They’re probably bigger picture issues between the ATO and agents. Now, first is the proactive liaison that the ATO used to do with the agents, particularly regarding around risk profiling of their client bases. In years past, some agents recall that if the ATO data analytics flagged a concern with a particular tax agent’s client, say an unusual pattern of work-related deductions or a high proportion of late lodgements, the ATO might reach out to that agent proactively. They might have a conversation about what’s going on, maybe offer some education or warnings to improve things. Now, these were sometimes informal calls or meetings, but they were very useful, and it gave the agent a chance to address issues before any punitive action. It gave the ATO a human-to-human channel to convey concerns, and lately, though, it seems the proactive calls and visits have been discontinued. Now, if an agent’s clients are considered risky, what tends to happen is the ATO will go straight to the enforcement actions, maybe a string of audits or a formal notice without prior dialogue. Now, we’ve had members express that they missed that early engagement, and they’d prefer a heads-up if something in their practice is raising red flags. It’s the difference between ATO saying, we’ve noticed such and such a trend, can we talk about it, versus we’ve audited five of your clients and applied penalties. I think rebuilding that bridge would help trust. It aligns with the ATO’s aim to be transparent about what they consider to be risky and maintain open communication. Right now, though, the agent feels a bit in the dark.
Ruth Owen
And again, I have heard this a lot and there clearly was a model in the past where you had a liaison point as an agent into the ATO and I hear a lot of agents feeling nostalgia for that model. I can’t talk for the ATO but that model doesn’t exist anymore, whether that’s due to cost reasons or just modernising their business channels. So even if they can’t afford to have that model in the current ways of doing business, I think going back to those kind of principles of recognising the important role that agents do play within the system. And if you are recognising patterns within an agent’s client base, it does seem like a good one to be able to say “hey I’m raising some red flags here, get your house in order” or “did you realise these things are popping up within your client base”? Because sometimes the agent doesn’t know everything that the client is actually doing. So I don’t know what the answer on this one is to be honest but certainly one I will keep in front of mind in just continuing to have that conversation with the ATO on the the trust they need to build within the agent community and the recognising that the agents feel that that kind of liaison is missing and the ability to have that human to human conversation.
Ruth Owen
It’s a topical issue, this one, with the change in the Code of Conduct. So, every time I have a conversation with the TPB, proportionality is right at the front of their response, so I know they are genuinely thinking about this. I know they did get some money in the last budget of the last government, so they are ramping up for an expected increase in referrals and likewise my own team is expecting to see more complaints about their handling of their referrals. Again, this is on my list of the top 10 because I think it’s very topical to have a look at. I haven’t done a review of the TPB, or my office hasn’t done a review of the TPB for several years, so maybe this is one that because of the anxiety and concern I think agents have after the determination and the Code of Conduct that how is this actually going to work in practice, is the TPB going to live up to its statement about proportionality, how does it share information with the ATO etc. So again, it’s one that’s definitely on my radar. I may do a review but even if I didn’t do a review, it’s part of my conversation with the TPB and clearly, just a reminder for your members, you can always raise a complaint with me as the Ombudsman about the TPB, that’s part of my remit.
Ky Wilson
And we’re also hearing concerns regarding the TPB and referrals under the Code of Professional Conduct for tax agents. There’s a sense that the ATO have become more active in referring agents to the TPB for potential breaches of the code. For example, if an agent is chronically lodging late or if there’s a concern about their advice. On the one hand, we absolutely all want to uphold standards. No one wants cowboy agents to tarnish the profession. On the other hand, members worry about over referral or over enforcement where even relatively minor infractions or one-off mistakes by an agent might trigger a referral to the TPB. Now the TPB is not a huge agency. It has limited resources. If it’s suddenly flooded with referrals, the process could drag out for months or years leaving agents in limbo. We’ve also heard the new emphasis on referrals hasn’t come with clear guidance on what type of issues mirror referrals. For instance, a single late lodgment breach, is that enough to get referred? Probably not, but agents are unsure. We’d like to see more clarity, maybe publish the criteria or examples of cases that get referred versus those that are handled by the ATO in-house. And if the TPB is indeed getting a heavier caseload, do they have the funding to manage that? Because if not, that’s a problem for both the TPB and the agents under review. We would not want to see the TPB process become a bottleneck or a source of injustice due to under-resourcing. It’s essentially about ensuring proportionality and use of the heavy hammer of a TPB referral for truly serious or repeat misconduct, not for every minor issue. And to make sure that the agents know where that line is.
Ruth Owen
It’s a topical issue, this one, with the change in the Code of Conduct. So, every time I have a conversation with the TPB, proportionality is right at the front of their response, so I know they are genuinely thinking about this. I know they did get some money in the last budget of the last government, so they are ramping up for an expected increase in referrals and likewise my own team is expecting to see more complaints about their handling of their referrals. Again, this is on my list of the top 10 because I think it’s very topical to have a look at. I haven’t done a review of the TPB, or my office hasn’t done a review of the TPB for several years, so maybe this is one that because of the anxiety and concern I think agents have after the determination and the Code of Conduct that how is this actually going to work in practice? Is the TPB going to live up to its statement about proportionality? How does it share information with the ATO, etc. So again, it’s one that’s definitely on my radar. I may do a review but even if I didn’t do a review, it’s part of my conversation with the TPB and clearly, just a reminder for your members, you can always raise a complaint with me as the Ombudsman about the TPB, that’s part of my remit.
Ky Wilson
Fantastic, Ruth—thank you. Before we wrap up, is there anything further you’d like to share with our members regarding the key issues currently under review? I ask because, at present, there seems to be a real sense of opaqueness around what’s being prioritised. If we can bring greater clarity and set some clear expectations, I believe it would go a long way in helping members understand what’s genuinely in play—and how best to engage with the system moving forward.
Ruth Owen
So, I think from my point of view, I’m talking to you today because I see the agents as a kind of my eyes and ears within the tax sector. So, if you’re seeing things that are causing you concern, and you’ve raised quite a few of them today with me, there might be issues I’ve not heard of before, there might be issues that are not in my complaints inbox at the moment. So, I’m really keen for you to see, I’m an avenue for you to raise issues about the whole tax system with me. If it’s one specific case, I can take that as a complaint. If it’s just a kind of a vibe or if it’s a thematic, you can just raise it with me generally and say, hey Ruth, I think there’s something going on here like GIC remission is a really good example. Everyone starts saying, “What’s going on? There’s something changing around here and we’re not really sure what’s changed. I can really get that sense. If lots of agents keep telling me, then that gives me a really strong sense of now there’s something for me to investigate further. So that would be my plea. I am here to serve on your behalf, right? That’s my role. Please see me in that way. So, use my office, use my services either as a complaint or direct me in terms of the areas that you would want to see investigated. I can create that transparency because remember, I’m one of the unique agencies that has the right to go behind the ATO secrecy wall. I can seek information and then proportionately again, publish and make recommendations. So, I guess I would conclude by saying for your members in particular, keep a track of what we’re doing. But by all means, at any time, get in touch with us by phone or by email and we’re here to serve.
Ky Wilson
Thank you so much. for your time today, Ruth, I know our members will be grateful for your time and attention.
Ruth Owen
It was a pleasure, thanks Ky.