Warning: This information may not apply to the current year. Check the content carefully to ensure it is applicable to your circumstances.
We aim to maximise the number of people who choose to voluntarily comply by helping taxpayers and their advisers understand their rights and obligations, and by making it as easy as possible for them to meet their obligations. At the same time, we adopt a risk management approach to deter, detect and deal with non-compliance, taking into account a taxpayer's circumstances.
We try to find the right balance between providing help (for example, education and advice), making it easy to comply (for example, pre-populating electronic tax returns), and our verification and enforcement activities (for example, risk reviews, audits and prosecutions).
Our approach is based on managing risk and responding quickly to changing circumstances. We monitor the tax system to identify risks and develop appropriate compliance strategies. We then actively tell people about the risks, what our position is and what they can expect from us.
The taxpayers' charter and the compliance model continue to guide our compliance work.
The charter is about being open and fair in our treatment of people, within the framework set by the law. It sets out our commitment to inform people of their rights, obligations and entitlements, and directs the way we behave towards the community and what the community can expect from us. This relationship has a starting point of mutual trust and respect.
The compliance model directs that we better understand why people are not complying, and develop appropriate and proportionate responses.
We verify compliance using a risk management approach. This means that how intensively we scrutinise taxpayers' affairs depends on the level of risk to revenue or to the integrity of the tax system. Each year we publish our view of the key risks and our planned compliance activities in our Compliance program, which is available on our website.
Where we identify a serious or widespread risk, we increase and intensify our scrutiny. We also differentiate our approaches and responses between those taxpayers who want to do the right thing and those who do not. We complement our market segment focus with compliance analysis of the various taxes we administer and the key points of contact that taxpayers have with us, namely:
- registering in the system
- keeping proper records
- lodging forms
- correctly reporting information, and
- making payments.
We focus on these areas because they are fundamental to taxpayer compliance. If taxpayers meet their obligations in these areas, we can be confident that the tax system is operating efficiently and effectively.
A large amount of our compliance effort goes into supporting people who want to do the right thing. This includes providing taxpayers and their advisers with help and information through our:
- website
- dedicated telephone services
- shopfronts
- publications and products specific to market segments and/or topics
- oral and written advice and rulings, and
- educational seminars and assistance programs.
We also try to make it easier for people to comply with their obligations by finding out how they want to deal with us and then offering products and services that they can understand and are practical to use.
We outline these activities in more detail in our publication Making it easier to comply, which is available on our website.
Sections within 3.6 Output 1.1.3 - Compliance assurance and support for revenue collection
Last Modified: Wednesday, 18 October 2006