Code of settlement practice

Attachment C - History of settlement guidelines

The Settlement guidelines were initially developed in consultation with representatives of relevant taxpayer, professional and industry groups, and were first introduced in February 1991. In September 1999 the guidelines were revised and retitled the Code of settlement practice to reflect:

• a review of the operation of those guidelines since their implementation
• the Taxpayers' Charter
• decisions on relevant recommendations of the Joint Committee of Public Accounts (JCPA) Report No 326, November 1993 An Assessment of Tax
• decisions on relevant recommendations made by the Ombudsman in Commonwealth Ombudsman Annual Report, 1998-1999.

The Code of settlement practice was then re-released in January 2001 to reflect:

• a review of the operation of the Code since its release in September 1999
• decisions on relevant recommendations made in the report of the Senate Economics References Committee, March 2000, entitled Inquiry into the Operations of the Australian Taxation Office.

An addendum to the Code of settlement practice which issued on 19 July 2000 (Mass marketed aggressive tax planning schemes - guidelines on settlement) was withdrawn in 2002.

The Code and other practices and procedures for settlements were reviewed again during 2006. Consultation across the ATO was undertaken and feedback was sought from the professional bodies and external scrutineers on a draft revised Code and paper outlining the ATO's settlement processes.