ATPF key achievements

ATPF meetings
19 August 2005	Adelaide	25 attendees
25 November 2005	Canberra	29 attendees
24 February 2006	Sydney	26 attendees
19 May 2006	Canberra	34 attendees

Key achievements

The ATO Tax Practitioner Forum (ATPF) and its sub-groups, through the willingness of all members to openly discuss issues, have identified and jointly resolved significant tax administration issues and have commissioned work in relation to initiatives that has assisted tax administration overall.

The ATPF and its sub groups have achieved the goals of providing an opportunity for candid exchange of views between the Tax Office and the tax profession, allowing all parties to gain a mutual understanding of respective situations.

Outcomes

During the past year, the ATPF has addressed over 60 agenda items, 40 issues have been received and dealt with out of session and responses have been provided to over 50 action items. Significant issues were escalated to the National Tax Liaison Group (NTLG) or referred to the appropriate ATPF sub group where necessary.

Major topics discussed and the outcomes achieved have included:

Service arrangements	A booklet and practice statement has now been published with considerable input into the final products from ATPF and NTLG members.
Digital certificates	Valuable feedback has been provided by members on the issues for agents which has influenced the Tax Office design process.
Tax Office audit products	The Audit Compliance Working Group commissioned work on rationalising Tax Office audit products in response to questions from ATPF members regarding what constitutes an audit, when does an audit start.
Voluntary disclosure	A statement of principles was presented at the November 2005 ATPF.
Relationship Managers	As a result of member feedback, the Relationship Manager Program is undertaking a review of work processes.
Tax Office offsetting practice	The Accounting Working Group reviewed the practice of offsetting income tax refunds against business activity statements amounts not yet due and payable leading to the publication of a fact sheet titled Where is my refund?
ICAA bug bear list	A large number of irritants for tax practitioners have been successfully identified and resolved or improved, or solutions are in progress at the working group level.
Compliance Toolkit	The Audit Compliance Working Group improved the layout and structure of the Compliance Toolkit leading to the publication of the Active Compliance case products on the Compliance Toolkit website in July 2006.
Lodgment Compliance Strategy 2006-07	The Lodgment Working Party developed and implemented the lodgment compliance strategy for 2006-07. Documents went live on 23 June 2006.
Personal services income (PSI)	A wide range of administrative issues arising from implementation of the PSI rules have been resolved through the Alienation Working Party.
Capital allowances	The $100 threshold for the immediate write-off of minor capital items was introduced following consultation with the New Measures Working Group.
Tax Agent Portal	As a result of member feedback there have been significant improvements to the Tax Agent Portal and Tax Office web page.