Terms of reference

Our work will build on broader Parliamentary, academic and community efforts to combat financial abuse and support victim-survivors. Our review will examine concerns raised though our complaint investigation service and by key stakeholders to seek to identify improvements in detecting and managing instances of financial abuse within the tax system. Importantly we will examine best practice approaches to assist the ATO to design products and processes that effectively support victim-survivors of financial abuse and minimise the risk of further victimisation within the tax system.

The questions we will seek to answer as part of our review are:

1. Whether the ATO has appropriate processes, practice statements, training and guidance in place to assist its officers to identify potential financial abuse within the tax system
   (for the purposes of supporting and providing relief from tax liability).
2. How ATO systems may be used to identify potential financial abuse within the tax system (including through information sharing with other agencies or third parties), building off
   similar experience in the financial services sector (noting that entities in the financial services sector operate in a different regulatory framework and environment to the ATO).
3. How the ATO provides effective support to victim-survivors and relief for tax liability created through financial abuse, in particular whether the ATO:
   • is appropriately considering victim-survivor circumstances
   • leverages the data / information, services and specialist expertise of other agencies and organisations
   • raises awareness amongst taxpayers and tax professionals about financial abuse in the tax system and how to seek assistance from the ATO.
4. Whether the ATO is utilising its full suite of powers to grant relief and provide support to victim-survivors of financial abuse within the tax system and hold perpetrators to
   account (e.g. reallocation or redistribution of liabilities or referral to law enforcement agencies).
5. The interactions between the ATO and other government agencies as it relates to financial abuse within the tax system, in particular:
   • the information sharing arrangements between the ATO and Services Australia as they relate to financial abuse within the tax system
   • how the tax consequences of financial abuse impact programs administered by other government agencies, in particular welfare and child support
   • the administrative and legislative barriers (e.g. resources, systems, legislative settings etc) that prevent the ATO from being able to work more effectively with
     Services Australia to minimise the impacts of financial abuse within the tax system on welfare and child support services.

While this review will address some elements of financial hardship and ATO support to taxpayers experiencing vulnerability, it will not involve a deep dive into those topics. Those topics may be investigated as separate stand-alone reviews, subject to further consultation with stakeholders as part of a future refresh of our workplan.

Our review will also not examine law enforcement and prosecutorial efforts to combat coercive control and financial abuse.

While we will take note of policy and administrative programs of work currently being undertaken by other parts of government, this review will focus specifically on tax administration.