Compliance program 2011-12

Income tax

We completed over 1,650 reviews and audits and 6,200 phone and letter based verification activities for small-to-medium enterprises. At the end of 2010-11, we expect to have raised around $500 million in liabilities and over $1 billion in notional tax adjustments, in the form of reduced carried-forward losses and other deductions, protecting around $300 million in future tax payable.
We finalised almost 50 advance pricing arrangements with small-to-medium enterprises.
We completed over 200 private binding rulings, 23 class rulings, more than 150 objections and around 630 inbound correspondence items.

Lodgment

We issued letters to more than 93,500 businesses and phoned 4,100 businesses with outstanding lodgment obligations. These activities raised approximately $810 million in net liabilities.

Debt

Payment arrangements were a major part of the practical support we provided to viable businesses in this segment, with around 11,000 in place at any point in time.
We suspended debt-collection action and automatically deferred due dates for tax payments for small-to-medium enterprises affected by natural disasters.
We took over 8,500 firmer and legal recovery actions against small-to-medium enterprises choosing not to work with us, continually defaulting on agreed arrangements or not having the capacity to pay and not taking steps to resolve their situation.
The number of tax debtors in the small-to-medium enterprises market is around 36,000.

Superannuation

In addressing employee complaints about unpaid superannuation we actioned over 3,600 superannuation guarantee cases involving small-to-medium enterprise employers. These activities raised approximately $138 million in unpaid superannuation and penalties.
We also completed 65 audits on small-to-medium Australian Prudential Regulation Authority funds to verify the accuracy and completeness of their superannuation reporting. These reviews identified a number of issues. Funds have since implemented changes to their systems and processes to rectify these issues for future reporting.
We reviewed the regulatory and income tax compliance of a small number of small-to-medium self-managed superannuation funds as part of the broader strategy detailed in the micro-enterprises section of this snapshot.

GST

As a result of more than 17,180 reviews and audits, we raised net GST liabilities of over $480 million. Of these activities, around 930 related to property risks, raising net liabilities of approximately $110 million.
We issued over 910 private rulings and other forms of interpretative advice to members of this market segment.

Last Modified: Friday, 1 July 2011