The Tax Ombudsman is asking for input and feedback on a shortlist of reviews for the next financial year, after releasing a consultation copy of proposed topics online.  

“When I was appointed, I wanted to make the office more transparent and engage the tax profession and the community more closely with the work that we do,” says Tax Ombudsman Ruth Owen, who is also the Inspector-General of Taxation: a statutory role charged with reviewing the Australian Taxation Office’s and Tax Practitioners Board‘s administration of the tax system and making recommendations on possible improvements.  

“Our reviews team are very keen to complete more reviews each year into topics that the industry and the public told us mattered to them, and this will be the second year that we have taken this new approach.” 

The shortlist of reviews is developed from feedback received throughout the year, data collected from its complaints service and other operations, and previous reviews or recommendations that may be worthy of re-examination or follow-up. This year’s shortlist of 10 topics includes suggestions to review the way the ATO: 

• makes decisions to apply or waive general interest charges for late payments 

• engages with taxpayers from culturally and linguistically diverse backgrounds 

• responds to fraud perpetrated by someone known to the victim such as a financial representative, agent or family member.  

“We’ll use the feedback to settle on four topics for investigation next year. Our ‘short, sharp reviews’ approach means we can cover more topics faster and make recommendations more quickly to improve the tax system for everyone,” says Ms Owen. 

The public consultation will run until 18 May 2025. To download the consultation paper, visit the draft work plan page of this website. All feedback should be sent by email to [email protected]