The complainant applied to the ATO for a full remission of General Interest Charge (GIC) on all tax debts due to their extenuating personal circumstances. The complainant had three separate tax debts on which GIC had accrued for a period of over 12 years and two of these debts had been subject to a court-imposed judgment during this time.

The ATO approved the complainant’s remission request and proceeded to remit all GIC on their ATO account. However, the complainant was concerned that the amount remitted did not reflect a full remission of GIC on all their tax debts. The complainant remained unsatisfied with the ATO’s responses to clarify the amount, and raised their concerns with the IGTO.

As a result, the IGTO commenced an investigation to determine whether all GIC on the complainant’s ATO account had been remitted. Following the IGTO’s examination and reconciliation of over 200 account postings on the complainant’s ATO account, the IGTO observed that, due to an oversight on the ATO’s behalf, GIC had not been remitted for one of the complainant’s tax debts and only a partial GIC remission had been applied to the two debts that were subject to a court judgment.

Consequently, the IGTO identified a significant amount of GIC remaining on the complainant’s account, which was then remitted by the ATO as a result of the IGTO’s investigation.