The complainant was a director of a charity that had been wound up due to the actions of a former employee who had defrauded the charity. The fraud was identified, and the employee arrested and convicted. The employee had also been responsible for managing the charity’s payroll and superannuation obligations and failed to discharge those obligations.  

The complainant approached the IGTO for assistance in engaging with the ATO in relation to notices he had received concerning the charity’s outstanding superannuation guarantee (SG) obligations. The complainant raised concerns that the ATO was not returning his calls or responding to his queries about the notices. 

In addition to commencing an investigation into the matter, the IGTO also considered the complainant’s case and determined that, in view of the fraud that had been perpetrated, there may be sufficient grounds for a waiver of debt application to the Department of Finance. The IGTO provided information and guidance to the complainant in relation to lodging the waiver application.  

The waiver application was subsequently approved, which reduced the charity’s SG debts to nil.  

The IGTO does not have any insight in relation to other criminal or civil actions that may have been undertaken to seek compensation or reparations for losses suffered by the charity and its employees as a result of the fraud. These matters fall outside of the IGTO’s jurisdiction.