Foreword
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The ATO’s objective is to foster an environment that promotes high levels of voluntary compliance with Australia’s tax and superannuation laws, including easy access to lawful entitlements, at minimum cost to taxpayers and other stakeholders.
Accordingly the compliance program provides strategies that straddle help and support and ease of compliance as well as those that deter and detect and deal with non-compliance. Increasingly our focus is on prevention rather than cure.
Our compliance model leads us to always seek the appropriate balance in our compliance responses. The public release of this program invites taxpayers and their representative bodies to provide feedback on the risk management choices we have made. After all, it is in the interests of all Australians to ensure that our tax and superannuation systems work as intended and well.
The economic downturn has created a very different and highly volatile risk environment. As a result, we are seeing a greater community need for assistance in meeting day-to-day tax obligations and a climate in which some taxpayers may be more aggressive in seeking to avoid or evade their tax and superannuation obligations, including through offshore arrangements.
This year, our main concern is to protect Australia’s tax base by sustaining high levels of participation by giving viable businesses the best chance of survival, and by nurturing engagement and a positive compliance culture as the economy recovers.
This will be balanced by an increased effort to ensure a level playing field for businesses and other taxpayers who are genuinely trying to do the right thing. So we will be vigilant, increasing our visibility in the community and taking firm action against those who choose to avoid or evade their obligations.
Strengthening our strategic partnerships with tax professionals, external scrutineers and the new national Tax Practitioners Board will be a priority. Sustaining strong working relationships with tax professionals, business, external scrutineers and community representatives and others will be critical to Australia’s tax and superannuation systems achieving their intent of funding public goods and services, influencing economic and social outcomes and securing retirement incomes for Australians.
Michael D’Ascenzo
Commissioner of Taxation
Last Modified: Wednesday, 5 August 2009
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