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Schedule A – Performance outcome measures

Read Schedule A of the GST Administration Performance Agreement – from 1 July 2026.

Published 26 June 2026

GST Administration Performance Agreement

A1 – This Schedule provides a range of agreed measures for the CFFR to determine whether the ATO has achieved the stated outcomes in Clause 10 and 11 of this Agreement.

A2 – Achievements against these measures may be found in the annual GST administration performance reports provided by the ATO.

A3 – Definitions of each measure are described in the Schedule A explanatory notes.

Direct measures

Maintain compliance

  1. GST revenue outcome
    1. Total GST accrual
    2. Total GST cash
    3. Home Affairs GST cash
  2. GST debt outstanding
    1. Total GST debt outstanding
      1. Collectable GST debt
      2. Insolvent debt
      3. Disputed debt
      4. Debts on hold
    2. Non-pursued GST debt
  3. GST compliance liabilities raised
    1. By client experience
      1. GST compliance liabilities
      2. Compliance cash collection/liabilities within the year
      3. Cash collection/liabilities rate
      4. Total cash collection/liabilities
    2. By top 5 industries
      1. GST compliance liabilities
      2. Compliance cash collection/liabilities within the year
      3. Cash collection/liabilities rate
      4. Total cash collection/liabilities
    3. Cash collection/liabilities over a 5-year period
  4. BAS lodgment
    1. Total BAS lodged overall (including annual BAS)
      1. Percentage lodged monthly
      2. Percentage lodged quarterly
    2. Total BAS lodged on time (including annual BAS)
      1. Percentage lodged on time monthly
      2. Percentage lodged on time quarterly

Taxpayer engagement

  1. GST total revenue effects
    1. Tax revenue from all GST engagement activities.
  2. Strike rate of audit activities

Cost effective administration

  1. Cost as a percentage of GST revenue
  2. GST registrations
    1. Total GST registrants
      1. Active registrants
      2. Non-reporting registrants
    2. New registrations
    3. Cancelled registrations
    4. Total registered taxpayer base by client experience

Confidence measures

Maintain compliance

  1. Trend in net GST gap
    1. Estimated net GST gap value
      1. Top-down approach
      2. Bottom-up approach
    2. Estimated GST gap including debt as a percentage of theoretical value
    3. Estimated GST gap excluding debt as a percentage of theoretical value
  2. GST gap by pillar of compliance
  3. GST on-time payment rate
    1. Percentage of population making payments on time
    2. Percentage of GST revenue paid on time
  4. GST collectable debt
    1. Ageing of GST collectable debt – value
      1. <1 month
      2. 1–2 months
      3. 2–3 months
      4. 3–12 months
      5. >1 year
    2. Ratio of collectable debt to GST revenue (cash and accruals)
  5. Return on investment from compliance activities (ratio)
    1. Return on investment from business-as-usual compliance activities (liabilities)
    2. Return on investment from business-as-usual compliance activities (cash)
    3. Return on investment per Compliance Program strategy (total cash)

Taxpayer engagement

  1. Tax assured
    1. Gaining confidence the right amount of GST is reported

Cost effective administration

  1. Operational and cost management
    1. GST administration cost result against agreed Schedule B estimate
    2. Total taxpayer engagement costs as a percentage of total administration costs

Dispute resolution

  1. Objections
    1. Number of new objection cases created
    2. Number of objection cases resolved
  2. Part IVC litigation cases
    1. New cases
    2. Cases resolved
    3. Litigation decision outcomes
      1. Percentage of decisions in courts/tribunals that wholly support the ATO position
      2. Percentage of decisions in courts/tribunals that partially support the ATO position
      3. Percentage of decisions in courts/tribunals that wholly support the taxpayer position
    4. Early resolution litigation outcomes
      1. Percentage of cases settled by the ATO
      2. Percentage of cases conceded in part or full by the ATO
      3. Percentage of cases withdrawn by the taxpayers
      4. Percentage of cases dismissed by the courts/tribunals

Technical advice

  1. Written technical advice
    1. Taxpayer guidance requests are finalised in 28 calendar days of receiving all necessary information
    2. Private rulings are finalised in 28 calendar days of receiving all necessary information
  2. Quality of technical advice
    1. Percentage of technical advice cases reviewed rated as 'achieved' for the accuracy of the technical decisions

Department of Home Affairs (Home Affairs) indicators

  1. Management of GST revenue collection
    1. Total GST liability assessed
    2. Total GST cash collected
    3. Total value of Tourist Refund Scheme (TRS) claims paid
  2. Maintain compliance
    1. Total cost of compliance
    2. Number of TRS claims rejected
    3. Value of TRS claims rejected
    4. GST adjustments – underpaid GST revenue
    5. Total GST adjustments
  3. Cost-effective administration
    1. Total costs for Department of Home Affairs
      1. Costs of import processing
      2. Costs of export processing
      3. Costs of import and export compliance
      4. Costs of administering the TRS
    2. Total TRS claims processed
    3. Compliance yield

Explanatory notes

Key features under the framework

A4 – The indicators have been structured to distinguish between those which are considered to be ‘direct measures’ and those which are ‘confidence measures’. The distinction separates the indicators into performance measures that are directly measurable, compared to those that are complementary or lag indicators. The 2 indicators are as follows.

Direct measures

A5 – These indicators are defined as key accountability measures. Collectively, the direct measures enable the ATO to demonstrate it has achieved the desired outcomes for the CFFR. These indicators present the performance of the GST system at a point in time.

Confidence measures

A6 – These indicators are defined as providing additional context or information about an area of performance. They are complementary to the direct measures by providing additional information on ATO workloads, or output performance, or both. They can also include qualitative or narrative information about an aspect of GST administration. Confidence measures provide a gauge of how the GST system is performing, usually over an annual basis.

Direct measures

Maintain compliance

1. GST revenue outcome

1(a) GST revenue

A7 – Both the total amount and the Home Affairs amount of GST revenue (cash receipts) are included. In addition, GST accrual revenue is also provided using the tax liability method (TLM). Under the TLM basis, GST revenue is defined as being the earlier of the cash payment being received or the associated liability being recognised.

All projections are based on the most recently available Budget or Mid-year Economic and Fiscal Outlook (MYEFO) estimates. The purpose of this indicator is to ensure revenue outcomes are moving with the economic environment to provide assurance that the levels of compliance are maintained. Commentary in the GST annual performance report should address this.

2. GST debt outstanding

2(a) Total GST debt outstanding

A8 – This performance indicator assesses the ATO’s ability to manage its GST debt. The ATO’s client accounting system for activity statement tax obligations features a running account balance. Liabilities for various revenue products including GST are posted to the accounts while credits (payments) are applied to the balance of the account, rather than being matched to individual liabilities. This necessitates the estimation of GST debt. To enable this estimation, a measurement process is undertaken to calculate the attribution percentages. The approach used is consistent with that used in the ATO’s financial statements.

A9 – These percentages are then applied to activity statement debt (collectable, insolvent, disputed, debts on hold) to derive estimated GST debt amounts:

  • Collectable debt is debt that is not subject to objection or appeal, some form of insolvency administration, or uneconomical to pursue.
  • Insolvent debt is debt that is subject to some form of insolvency administration.
  • Disputed debt is debt that is subject to an objection, or appeal.
  • A ‘debt on hold’ is a tax debt that the ATO has paused taking actions to collect. The debt may be placed on hold if it is not cost effective to collect the debt at the time. As debts on hold are progressively added to accounts throughout 2025–26, reported values will increase in future years.
2(b) Non-pursued GST debt

A10 – The process employed by the ATO in estimating the amount of GST debt non-pursued is consistent with the process used in the ATO’s financial statements.

3. GST compliance liabilities raised

3(a) GST compliance liabilities raised by taxpayer experience

A11 – Client experience aligns to ATO categories: Individuals, Small Business, Privately Owned and Wealthy Groups, Public and Multinational Businesses, Not-for-profit, and Superannuation.

A12 – Compliance liabilities are the net value of debit and credit amendments from compliance intervention and include overpayments stopped. Overpayments are also known as 'incorrect refunds'. Compliance liabilities exclude penalties and interest. Due to the running balance account, collections are determined using a combination of actual collections and estimates of collections based on sampling.

A13 – Cash collections from client engagement activities are based on those collections within the year that relate to the liabilities raised in that year. This provides the cash collection rate as a percentage of those collections. We also estimate the total cash collections within the year (which can relate to compliance liabilities raised from previous years). Cash collections include penalties and interest.

3(b) GST compliance liabilities raised by top 5 industries

A14 – Industry is based on industry codes from the Australian and New Zealand Industrial Classification (ANZSIC) codes.

3(c) Cash collections/liabilities over a 5-year period

A15 – This indicator provides a 5-year trend (by ATO client experience and industry) on the following compliance outcomes:

  • ATO compliance liabilities raised in a financial year
  • Cash collections raised on those liabilities raised in the financial year
  • Cash collection rate.

4. BAS lodgment

4(a) Total BAS lodged overall (including annual BAS)

A16 – This measure has 2 components: one measures the percentage of business activity statements lodged on time, and the other measures the percentage lodged at a given time. The given time will be at 31 December for the mid-year report and 30 June for the annual (full year) report. The trend in this measure looks at the effectiveness of the ATO in dealing with the lodgment risk (that is, taxpayers who don’t lodge).

Taxpayer engagement

5. GST total revenue effects

5(a) Tax revenue from all GST engagement activities

A17 – Total revenue effects is a measure of the impact our activities have on improving taxpayer compliance. These activities ultimately improve levels of willing participation with the GST system. The total revenue effects measure is an estimate of the additional tax revenue that comes from our client engagement activities. It is the combination of both:

  • audit actions and overpayments stopped, and
  • preventive actions and sustained compliance.

A18 – Preventive actions and sustained compliance may include:

  • preventive activities (designed to assist or encourage clients to pay the right amount of GST upfront)
  • corrective activities (other than those captured by audit actions and overpayments stopped) designed to encourage clients to review and amend their previous reporting
  • improvements to compliance from preventive or corrective activity (including an audit) conducted in prior periods.

In limited cases, where we can establish a clear causal connection and defensibly measure it, preventive actions and sustained compliance may additionally include the impact of:

  • process changes making it easier for clients to comply with their GST obligations
  • spill-over or ripple effects on the broader population as a result of our broad communications or knowledge of our activities with other clients.

A19 – For full details of the ATO methodology for preventive actions and sustained compliance, see Total revenue effects measure – impacts of our engagement activities.

6. Strike rate of audit activities

A20 – Strike rate is the percentage of cases resulting in a liability adjustment by the ATO which can indicate the effectiveness of case selection in detecting ‘non-compliance’. It should be noted that the measure does not differentiate between upward or downward liability adjustments.

A21 – This measure is currently used within the ATO under a broader definition (to encompass not only audit adjustments but where some other outcome has been achieved, for example, de-registration of a taxpayer).

A22 – The indicator gives recognition to the ATO’s risk-based audit selection strategy (focused on high-risk clients) and is a more appropriate measure of effectiveness than audit coverage.

A 23 – It should be noted that the strike rate is likely to have an inverse relationship with audit coverage (for example, risk-based audit selection focuses on high risk and often more resource intensive clients. This results in smaller coverage. As coverage is increased, there is more chance that a higher proportion of less risky clients will be included in the audit selection). It also has a relationship with objections increasing in proportion to the number of audits resulting in adjustments.

Cost-effective administration

7. Cost as a percentage of GST revenue

A24 – Projections have been adjusted to reflect revenue estimates (cash receipts) from the most recent MYEFO or Budget.

8. GST registrations

8(a) Total GST registrants

A25 – Active registrants are registered for GST and have not cancelled their registration.

A26 – Non-reporting registrants occur where one member of a GST group manages the affairs of the group and is responsible for accounting for the GST transactions of the whole group, but each group member must be individually registered for GST to form part of the GST group. This group is included in the total number of GST registrations.

8(d) Total registered taxpayer base by taxpayer experience

A27 – This is the total registered population at 30 June of the current year. Over time this measure will show how fluid the client base is through GST registrations.

Confidence measures

Maintain compliance

9. Trend in net GST gap

9(a)(i) Estimated GST gap value – Top-down approach

A28 – The GST net gap measure is estimated as the difference between:

  • an estimate of theoretical GST liability on an accrual basis that would be reported if all relevant businesses and individuals fully complied with all relevant GST legislation, and
  • an estimate of the reported GST liability, adjusted to exclude liability that is unlikely to be paid.

A29 – Theoretical accrual GST liability is derived from national accounts data on a range of aggregate final spending published by the Australian Bureau of Statistics (ABS) and, where relevant, adjusted to exclude spending that does not attract GST. Reported GST liability is based on the economic transaction method (ETM) and reflects GST liabilities for the period in which the underlying economic activity (transaction) occurs.

A30 – Given various assumptions made, methodological improvements and revisions to the underlying national accounts data used, the GST net gap estimates can take some time to tend towards a central and stable estimate. Gap analysis is therefore more useful for identifying the trend over time - rather than focusing on the absolute dollar gap value for each or any year. This is consistent with the positioning of tax gap estimates in international tax gap reporting programs. Accordingly, care needs to be taken when looking at individual year tax gap estimates given the potential for methodological changes and sometimes significant revisions to ABS data across time. Reflecting this, movements in gap estimates are best interpreted in trend terms.

A31 – Reflecting the accrual basis of the tax gap estimates, the GST gap estimates are reported for the financial year in which the underlying transactions and reported liability occurred. This is the headline measure of the GST net gap that we publish and tend to focus our external commentary on. To reduce the extent of revisions, we allow both internal and external data to mature before publishing GST gap estimates. Generally, gap estimates lag the relevant financial year by around 20 months.

A32 – More detail is available on the ATO methodology applied to estimate the ‘goods and services tax gap’.

9(a)(ii) Estimated GST gap value – Bottom-up approach

A33 – Bottom-up gap estimates involve analysing internal data sources (such as tax returns or audit data) at a micro or individual taxpayer level and then extrapolating the outcomes across the relevant population to determine the aggregate estimated gap.

Bottom-up gap estimation approaches can provide more granular information about tax gap estimates and the drivers of the estimated gap. These bottom-up models can generate reliable information about the distribution of the aggregate gap by client experience as well as across the pillars of compliance.

A34 – We are currently developing a bottom-up GST gap estimation model based on audit and review data from a targeted risk assessment process. Risk-based selection identifies riskier taxpayers with a larger non-compliance which, if left unadjusted, would bias upwards resulting gap estimates. Hence, we are developing robust approaches to de-bias the individual taxpayer outcomes as part of the aggregation process.

Once fully developed and internally tested, the bottom-up model and the techniques used, as for all our gap models, will be reviewed by external subject matter experts to ensure they are robust, accurate and fit-for-purpose.

Publishing the results is contingent on the model being fully developed, adequately reviewed and endorsed by the external advisers.

A35 – The GST net gap is included as part of a broader gap metric intended as an indicator of ATO performance within the Annual Report under the Public Governance, Performance and Accountability Act 2013 (the PGPA Act). As a result, the Australian National Audit Office (ANAO) also has a broad role in oversighting gap estimates intended for these purposes.

9(b) Estimated GST gap including debt as a percentage of theoretical revenue

A36 – The headline estimate of the GST gap adjusts reported liability to remove amounts that are unlikely to be paid. This effectively moves amounts unlikely to be paid from reported liability into the tax gap - and is known as a debt inclusive tax gap. Including an estimate of liability unlikely to be paid in the gap calculation effectively reduces the value of reported GST liability and thereby increases the estimated GST gap.

A37 – The headline form of the GST gap estimate is therefore:

Headline GST net gap (including debt) = Estimated theoretical GST liability − (Estimated reported l GST liability – estimated liability not expected to be paid)

A38 – We estimate liability not expected to be paid using a range of internal data on GST debt based on accrual concepts (meaning debt aligns with the year in which the underlying economic activity (transaction) occurred). This approach more closely aligns with approaches used by international tax administrations that estimate a GST (or VAT) gap and hence aids international comparability.

A39 – To control for growth in the GST system over time, we represent the estimated net GST gap as a share of theoretical liability. This relative measure of the net GST gap (as a percentage of theoretical liability) is more comparable over time than dollar gap estimates.

9(c) Estimated GST gap excluding debt as a percentage of theoretical revenue

A40 – This measure represents the net GST gap measured as a percentage of estimated theoretical GST liability. It is calculated as:

Headline GST net gap (excluding debt) = Estimated theoretical GST liability – Estimated reported GST liability.

A41 – The calculation essentially leaves estimated reported liability unadjusted and therefore still includes amounts that are unlikely to be paid. As a result, the impact of debt does not impact the size of the estimated GST net gap.

10. GST gap by pillar of compliance

A42 – The GST top-down gap model estimates GST-able final spending based on the assumption that all relevant entities are fully compliant with GST legislation. This means that our estimates of the theoretical GST base (final spending that attracts the GST) conceptually includes all relevant spending, including shadow economy (or non-observed economy) spending via indicative uplifts based on data published by the ABS. The initial liability metric used in the top-down gap estimate leverages aggregated reported liability. Reflecting these definitions, the resulting gap estimates conceptually include gap contributions associated with pillars of compliance.

However, the individual contributions of these pillars are not directly identified or quantified within the top-down GST gap model. The macro nature of the top-down model also means there is no reliable way to estimate the individual contribution of each of these pillars to the GST net gap or to attribute the overall gap to each of these pillars.

A43 – The bottom-up model currently under development will be able to quantify and/or attribute the resulting GST gap estimates to the pillars. The individual gap contribution of 3 of the pillars (Lodgment, Reporting and Payment) will be directly estimable within the model itself and will be based on the findings from the relevant audit or review process used as the sample for the bottom-up analysis.

A44 – The gap contribution associated with the other pillar, Registration, is typically estimated as an add-on in bottom-up models, especially those based on sampling which, by definition, cannot include entities that should be registered for GST purposes but are not. Given the difficulty in estimating non-registered entities (and their GST liability), an indicative gross-up factor is typically applied in bottom-up gap models. This implies there will be less rigour and accuracy around the GST gap contribution of the Registration pillar relative to that of other pillars. Nevertheless, the results should be broadly indicative.

A45 – Given the above, the ability to address the contribution of the pillars to the GST net gap will increase significantly with the adoption of bottom-up analysis to inform the GST gap.

11. GST on-time payment rate

11(a) Percentage of population making payments on time

A46 – This measures the compliance level for GST payments and is calculated as:

Number of GST payments paid on time and in full ÷ Total number of GST payments due × 100.

11(b) Percentage of GST revenue paid on time

A47 – Percentage value on-time payment rate is calculated as:

Value of GST payments paid on time and in full ÷ Total value of GST payments due × 100.

12. GST collectable debt

12(a) Ageing of GST collectable debt – value

A48 – The age of the debt is determined by the latter of the processed date or the effective date of the liability. The process utilises an attribution percentage against each of the age categories to provide an estimation of the age of GST debt.

12(b) Ratio of collectable debt to GST revenue (cash and accruals)

A49 – The ratio of collectable GST debt to net GST revenue (cash and accruals), expressed as a percentage, is a measure used by a number of revenue agencies to gauge their relative effectiveness in managing their debt holdings.

The measure is calculated using the average of 12-monthly estimated GST collectable debt amounts as a percentage of 12-months' rolling GST revenue (cash and accruals).

13. Return on investment from compliance activities (ratio)

13(a) Return on investment from business-as-usual compliance activities (based on liabilities raised within the year)

A50 – This measure provides the estimated return on investment of the liabilities raised on GST compliance activities. It compares ratios between ATO business as usual (BAU) and the GST compliance program. The return on investment for the GST compliance program is also shown under Schedule D.

13(b) Return on investment from business-as-usual compliance activities (based on cash collected within the year)

A51 – This measure provides the estimated return on investment of the cash collected within the financial year on GST compliance activities. It compares ratios between ATO BAU and the GST compliance program.

Taxpayer engagement

14. Tax assured – Gaining confidence the right amount of GST is reported

A52 – Tax assured is an estimate of the proportion of tax reported that we are highly confident is correct. This measure is based on the concept of justified trust. Justified trust is a matter of judgment. In determining whether justified trust is achieved, we assess whether objective evidence exists that would lead a reasonable person to conclude the correct amount of tax has been reported. For GST, we examine the total throughput that is correct – that is, tax paid and credits claimed.

A53 – Our broader risk management frameworks including application of industry benchmarks and risk algorithms provide us with a level of confidence over much of the tax reported that we do not formally consider assured for reporting purposes.

A54 – For full details of the ATO methodology for tax assured, see Tax assured: gaining confidence the right amount of tax is reported.

Cost effective administration

15. Operational and cost management

15(a) GST administration cost result against agreed Schedule B estimate

A55 – This measure reflects the percentage by which the actual GST product cost varies from the agreed budget, as specified in Schedule B. It will be reported retrospectively.

15(b) Total taxpayer engagement costs as a percentage of total administration costs

A56 – This ratio is calculated as:

Client engagement costs [SCF 3.4 and 3.5 Home Affairs] ÷ Total GST administration costs × 100.

Dispute resolution

16. Objections

A57 – An objection is when a taxpayer disagrees with a decision the ATO has made about their tax affairs. This measure provides statistics on the number of GST objections the ATO receives per year, split between audit-initiated and client-initiated objections. The trend in the number of objections can show whether we are improving engagement throughout an audit case, and the communication of the audit decision and continuing improvements in our early engagement strategies.

A58 – It should be noted that there is a range of factors that can impact on the number of objections received, including improvements in the strike rate (or improved risk identification).

17. Part IVC litigation cases

A59 – The Taxation Administration Act 1953 (TAA) enables people to challenge or appeal most assessments, determinations, notices, and decisions, and to formally object in certain situations. Part IVC establishes a specific framework for taxation objections, reviews and appeals. It provides for the Administrative Review Tribunal to review objection decisions, as well as appeals to the Federal Court against an objection decision.

A60 – This metric provides data on our new Part IVC Litigation cases for the year, excluding those in the Test Case Litigation Program. When a dispute does reach litigation, our focus is on ensuring that only the right cases are decided in the courts/tribunals, with all other disputes resolved with the taxpayer prior to hearing.

A61 – Number of Part IVC litigation cases resolved provides the number of litigation cases resolved per year.

A62 – Litigation decision outcomes is the number of favourable, partially favourable and unfavourable decisions on Part IVC first instance, Appeal and Administrative Matters divided by the total number of decisions for the same period. This measure is designed to indicate that we are only progressing those cases to hearing with strong chances of success or opportunities to clarify the law, in line with our litigation principles.

A63 – Early resolution litigation outcomes is the number of Part IVC first instance, Appeal and Administration Matters that have been resolved prior to hearing, divided by the number of finalised cases for the same period. This measure is designed to indicate that we are implementing early resolution processes to ensure we are only progressing those cases to hearing with strong chances of success or opportunities to clarify the law, in line with our litigation principles.

Technical advice

18. Written technical advice

A64 – Advice and guidance products are issued to help taxpayers understand their obligations and entitlements under the laws administered by the Commissioner. This indicator is an ATO service commitment to respond to enquiries within certain timeframes. An 80% target applies to private rulings. The private rulings standard is subject to the ATO receiving all necessary information. If a request raises particularly complex matters that will take more than 28 calendar days to resolve after receiving all the necessary information, the ATO will aim to contact the taxpayer within 14 calendar days to negotiate a due date.

19. Quality of technical advice

A65 – This measure uses the ATO Quality Model to determine whether a technical decision made by the ATO was correct for accuracy. The ATO Quality Model was introduced in July 2014 and was adjusted from 1 July 2018. Refinements were made to the assessment of the technical accuracy measure to allow better identification of occurrences where technical answers or decisions made by the ATO were correct (that is, the technical answer or decision made considering the available evidence was correct only), from work which is technically correct but the client experience could be improved.

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