Continuing our relationship with the Standing Committee on Tax

Last week I appeared before the House of Representatives Standing Committee on Tax and Revenue in Canberra.

The Committee may inquire into and report on any matter referred to it by either the House or a Minister, including any pre-legislation proposal, bill, motion, report or document. For this Parliament the Committee comprises ten Members of the House of Representatives, with six Members nominated by the Government and four nominated by the non-Government parties. It is Chaired by John Alexander OAM, MP.

The purpose of my appearance was to provide a private briefing to the Committee to further enhance the Tax Institute’s relationship with the Committee and its members and for me to provide Tax Institute members’ perspectives on the tax system and its administration.

The Committee will regularly hear public evidence from the Tax Commissioner and his senior management team on issues in the tax system and the ATO’s performance. In February 2014, the public hearing addressed issues including:

  • measuring the tax gap and the role of random audits in this process;
  • the ATO’s reporting of performance information and how performance information is integrated into ATO management decisions;
  • ATO benchmarking against revenue agencies overseas;the internal reforms of the ATO following the recent capability review by the Australian Public Service Commission;developments with foreign non-assessable non-exempt income (section 25-90);
  • impacts of budget and staffing reductions at the ATO, including their effect on revenue and service standards;whether the ATO’s litigation function should be transferred to a different agency;
  • and tax disputes more generally, including the new independent internal reviews.
  • read The Committee’s report.

I look forward to continuing our constructive relationship with the Committee in the months to come.

Robert Jeremenko
Robert
Jeremenko

Robert Jeremenko CTA is Senior Tax Counsel of The Tax Institute.

The Tax Institute is Australia’s leading professional association in tax. Its 13,000 members include tax agents, accountants and lawyers as well as tax practitioners in corporations, government and academia.

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