tax office

The tax commissioner pleads for small businesses to be more specific with their feedback so as to give the ATO a better chance of addressing concerns.

Finding opportunities to innovate as a service provider during a pandemic has been a taxing experience for everybody, but leading through uncertain times is what public service is all about.

The Australian Taxation Office has handed out its annual internal awards to outstanding staff and invited a group of schoolkids in to receive their own awards at the same time, for creative ideas on how to convey the importance of taxation and superannuation.

Richard Boyle, a tax office whistleblower facing a possible 161-year jail sentence for shining a light on ATO debt-collection activities, has today launched a crowdfunding campaign to cover his legal costs.

The ATO is finding itself the subject of a lot of unwanted media commentary of late, most recently around its completely legitimate use of high-grade digital forensic tools in criminal investigations.

A junior minister proudly reports a third of all Commonwealth contracts went to small businesses last financial year, earning them 10% of all procurement spending. But the smallest suppliers actually did more work in previous years.

Centrelink staff are getting advanced training in dealing with aggressive clients just as the union warns the front lines are about to get messier than usual, and artificial intelligence begins to take over customer-facing roles.

The ATO prefers “coaching” taxpayers to “policing” the system, but internal culture had to change before client relations could. The new approach meant challenging risk aversion, silos and strict bureaucratic rules internally.