Overall assessment of performance

Overall self-assessment rating: Good

As a regulator of the tax and superannuation systems in Australia, we have assessed our overall performance against the Regulator Performance Framework to be good.

This assessment is based on the outcomes of our metrics and the improvements made for each of the six key performance indicators (KPIs). We have assessed our performance to be good for all six KPIs. Details of our assessment are outlined in the individual KPI summaries which commence on page 12.

Overall, we achieved positive results (improved or met target) for 18 of the 34 ATO-specific metrics, with two broadly stable, three showing a decline, and 11 based on activities (where trends in the metrics do not directly reflect effectiveness of performance). For the three where performance declined, one did not meet target, the other two do not have targets, however there was an increase in elapsed time in days for private rulings, and perceptions of fairness in disputes remained stable with regard to the process but declined with regard to the final decision.

Following is a breakdown of our assessment for each KPI. Some metrics apply to more than one KPI, with results for these metrics included within the summary for all relevant KPIs.

Performance summary

In 2020–21, the ATO was called on to do more than ever before – and we embraced each challenge as an opportunity to continue our strong record of meeting government and community expectations. We continued our efforts to serve all Australians, particularly when they needed it most – by delivering COVID-19 government stimulus measures and supporting those financially impacted by COVID-19 within the community.

This year we:

• continued our delivery of the Cash Flow Boost and Early Release of Super
• worked closely with Treasury to implement new and extended economic stimulus measures to help businesses recover, including JobKeeper Extension 1 and 2 and the JobMaker Hiring Credit
• delivered key government commitments, including through our Tax Avoidance Taskforce and Serious Financial Crime Taskforce
• completed, as part of the Modernising Business Registers program, the transfer of the registry functions from the Australian Securities and Investment Commission (ASIC) to the ATO – with work underway to consolidate over 30 business registers to streamline how businesses interact with government and manage their registry obligations
• provided additional support through lodgment and payment deferrals, and flexible payment options – including interest-free payment plans
• delivered Online services for business, making it easier for businesses of all sizes to manage their obligations with the ATO
• made further enhancements to Single Touch Payroll (STP) – enabling streamlined reporting for employers by leveraging their current processes, and helping employees get timely accurate information through real-time reporting.

At the same time, demand for our core services continued, and in fact increased to record highs with Tax Time 2020. On the first day of tax time, we processed more than 740,000 lodgments received via our online service channels, including income tax returns, early release of super applications, JobKeeper and cash flow boost payments – a massive increase from the 100,000 we processed on the first day of tax time in 2019.

We increased capacity in our systems to meet the expected surge in demand for our services. This helped to ensure those already facing financial hardship and many other challenges, could quickly and easily access economic stimulus and any tax refunds they were entitled to.

Providing advice and guidance

As a result of the COVID-19 pandemic, some individuals and businesses were entitled to income and deductions they had not received before. In recognition of this, we provided additional help and guidance and undertook communication activities to help taxpayers understand how to treat income types, what they were entitled to claim, and how to easily claim entitlements. We used a range of channels to reach the community, including a new Tax essentials web page, communications through the media and social media, as well as public and private rulings.

We also tailored our advice and guidance and worked closely with the tax profession to help them understand entitlements and obligations and, where we could, provided quick access to support options for their clients, including quicker refunds and payments.

Ensuring the integrity of the tax and superannuation systems

In addition to ensuring eligible participants received stimulus measure payments promptly, we acted decisively where taxpayers deliberately sought to claim stimulus they were not entitled to. We applied integrity and risk models, designed specifically for the stimulus measures to ensure that eligibility criteria were met.

Through our compliance activities, we stopped, recovered or prevented around $1.1 billion in JobKeeper payments and reduced cash flow boost overpayments by around $97 million. We expedited, and where appropriate, funded litigation cases on JobKeeper and Cash Flow Boost in the Administrative Appeals Tribunal (AAT) and the Federal Court to get clarity on important aspects of these stimulus payments.

We worked with clients across all markets to ensure the integrity of the tax system, including large public and multinational companies, privately owned and wealthy groups, small businesses, individuals, tax practitioners, and superannuation funds. For example, we:

• extended our program of work with the ‘Top 1,000’ companies to increase assurance that they are reporting the right amount of income tax and GST and to identify areas of risk for further action – we engaged with over 150 clients through the combined assurance reviews with a total business income of more than $120 billion
• continued and extended our work with the ‘Top 500’ and ‘Next 5,000’ largest and wealthiest private groups to increase assurance that they are reporting the right amount of income tax and GST, and taking further action where we identified areas of risk
• pursued litigation cases – in the courts and the Administrative Appeals Tribunal – that are significant to the integrity of the tax system, including cases involving promoter penalties, freezing orders, and engagement in artificial schemes and egregious conduct to avoid the payment of tax
• continued our small business assurance programs and enhanced our analytics and validation checks, allowing more real-time messages for those using our online services to lodge activity statements, prompting them to self-correct and prevent inadvertent errors prior to lodgment
• expanded the data available in our pre-fill service to include reminders to taxpayers who earn foreign income, and increased reminders to those who invest in cryptocurrency
• delivered the Superannuation Guarantee Amnesty project, which ran from 24 May 2018 to 7 September 2020, providing employers with a one-off chance to catch up on unpaid super
• published data on lost and unclaimed super for greater transparency of the information we hold and to help people locate superannuation money they may have lost track of.

Our strategy to address high-risk registered agents includes working with the Tax Practitioners Board (TPB) to share intelligence early and to ensure that behaviours of the highest risk agents are addressed. During 2020–21, we shared over 770 referrals (both evidence-based and intelligence-based) and recorded almost 1,700 information exchanges.

Using data to help clients

Data and analytics play a critical role in our ability to engage early with clients to help them get things right from the start and to identify those who are not doing the right thing. In 2020–21 we used our data and analytics technology to pre-fill over 85 million pieces of data, including information relating to COVID-19 support measures for employees – and we took an active role in data sharing across all levels of government. We also continued to invest in myGovID by:

• providing online users with an easy and secure method of proving their identity online and helping them to better protect their identity and data
• expanding client access to myGovID by including Australian citizenship certificates and ImmiCards as accepted identity documents, enabling clients to achieve a greater online identity strength
• implementing other improvements including renewing the myGovID credential and making accessibility improvements to support screen readers in iOS and Android.

The Digital Identity program has been a critical enabler to support individuals and businesses to access a range of government online services and stimulus measures.

We continue to invest in a multilayered cyber-defence capability that ensures adherence to privacy legislation, maintains data integrity, and promotes our vision of building community trust and confidence. This year we deployed Secure Internet Gateway (SIG), a security system that controls access into and out of the ATO via the internet, protecting our systems from malicious programs and viruses.

The ATO’s Cyber Resilience program provides greater protection of our client data from breaches and cyberthreats.

Future focus

With the continuously changing and evolving global and economic environments in which we operate – it is clear building community trust and confidence in our administration of the tax and superannuation systems must remain a key focus as we head toward 2024. Equally, our ability to manage our increasing access to, and the use of, client data – must also continue to be a priority. Therefore, we will continue to focus on these two key aspirations in 2021–22, namely to:

• build trust and confidence in the tax and superannuation systems
• be an integrated, streamlined and data driven organisation.