2025 Completed matters

To seek feedback on the ATO’s changed approach for high assurance GST reporters.

As a result of the assurance obtained over GST in the Top 100 population to date and with the introduction of the Supplementary annual GST return (SAGR), we consider that there is scope to further reduce our engagement and resource investment with overall high assurance GST reporters in GST refresh reviews.

We intend to transition our GST refresh reviews for high assurance reporters who prepare their own GST analytical tool (GAT) prior to lodgment of the SAGR to an Assurance Check-in every 4 years.

Under this approach we will predominantly rely on independent tax control testing results and the alignment between accounting and tax to evidence and maintain assurance, supported by annual profiling.

Consultation will assist us to guide our approach, supported by updated external guidance.

• Top 100 population
• Intermediaries and advisers

Stewardship groups

Feedback is being considered in guiding our approach and in the preparation of future public guidance materials.

Jan Pfitzner, Public Groups
Jan.Pfitzner@ato.gov.au

To seek feedback on impacts of proposed changes to the way the ATO administers some types of taxpayer relief to ensure the ATO is fully informed before finalising changes; and to inform development of guidance materials for taxpayers and tax professionals.

The ATO is undertaking a comprehensive review of its current administrative policy settings, practices and processes around taxpayer relief such as lodgment and payment deferrals, penalty and interest remissions, and payment arrangements. We are seeking feedback from taxpayers and tax professionals on the impacts of potential changes to the settings.

• Stewardship groups
• Professional associations
• Tax agents
• Industry representatives

We recently closed the public consultation on the ATO’s refreshed approach to taxpayer relief provisions. This consultation was part of a comprehensive review into the administrative policy settings, practices and processes around some forms of taxpayer relief, or concessions, including:

• lodgment and payment deferrals
• payment arrangements
• penalty and interest remissions.

The consultation intended to seek feedback from taxpayers and tax professionals on our draft principles and the potential impacts of the proposed changes. Over 30 submissions were received from individuals and small businesses who shared their stories and helped to contextualise the lived experience of our concessions policies.

The responses highlighted some of the misunderstandings around our legislative framework, in particular the powers the ATO has in relation to supporting people to manage debt. We need to do more to communicate clearly regarding our policies, legislative constraints and what taxpayers and their representatives can expect from us.

The review was welcomed and most were supportive of the principles. Feedback elaborated on some challenges we are likely to encounter in implementation, and ideas for how we can clarify and improve our approach. Some consistent themes from the feedback included:

• Consistency – a desire to see a commitment to consistent application of the concessions policies and procedures from ATO staff.
• Transparency – greater visibility of the policies and processes ATO use to make decisions, and what considerations have informed a decision better communicated in our letters.
• Flexibility – the ATO to be more flexible in accommodating individual circumstances, specifically in relation to payment plans.
• Role of agents – greater recognition for the role of tax practitioners have in supporting taxpayers to understand and apply for concessions.
• Vulnerability – greater clarity on how we will consider clients experiencing vulnerability, and how our policies will accommodate those more dynamic and complex scenarios.

The submissions have informed updates to our draft principles to ensure they are accurately understood. Our updated principles will be published in the near future. We are working through additional policies, processes, guidance material and communication strategies that will support the implementation of our refreshed approach.

Sonia Corsini, Frontline Risk and Strategy
RedefiningConcessionsProject@ato.gov.au

To understand industry views on the scope of the ‘non-profit organisation’ exclusion to inform how we administer the new measure.

The Global Anti-Base Erosion Model Rules (GloBE rules) provide for a coordinated system of taxation intended to ensure multinational enterprise groups (MNE groups) are subject to a global minimum tax rate of 15% in each of the jurisdictions where they operate.

On 10 December 2024, the Taxation (Multinational—Global and Domestic Minimum Tax) Act 2024 (the Act) received Royal Assent. It is part of a primary legislation package which implements the framework of the GloBE rules in Australia.

Certain entities in MNE groups are excluded from the operation of the Australian global and domestic minimum tax. Relevantly, the Act provides an exclusion for entities considered to be a ‘non-profit organisation’.

The ATO will consult with members of the Not-for-profit Stewardship Group and tertiary education sector representatives to inform its understanding of the scope of the ‘non-profit organisation’ exclusion and broader administration of the new measure.

• Tertiary education Industry representatives
• Members of the
  • Not-for-profit Stewardship Group

The ATO consulted with Not-for-profit Stewardship members at the March 2025 meeting, with additional targeted consultation completed on the application of subsection 22(2) of the Taxation (Multinational—Global and Domestic Minimum Tax) Act 2024 (GDMTA), and in particular, paragraph (f).

• Feedback and engagement from the sector were valuable in informing the ATO’s understanding of the scope of the ‘non-profit organisation’ exclusion and broader administration of the new measure.
• Key issues and scenarios helped the ATO shape how we approach our public advice and guidance for this measure, both formal and informal.

Following the targeted consultation, the ATO issued guidance to the group outlining:

• an analysis of all the facts and circumstances, including the specific activities undertaken by the entity, is required to determine if an entity is an Excluded NPO entity as per the GDMTA.
• that questions of whether an entity is an Excluded NPO must be approached on a case-by-case basis.

Jennifer Moltisanti, Small Business, Not-for-profit Government Experiences
Jennifer.Moltisanti@ato.gov.au

To better understand how tax agents use communication preferences and how the ATO could increase the use of digital preferencing for client mail interactions.

In the Tax Agent Portal, communication preferences allow tax and BAS agents to set how they and their clients receive communications from the ATO. Currently agents can set their clients’ communication preferences to have:

• all communications sent to the client
• all communications sent the registered agent
• some communications sent to the client and other communications sent to the registered agent.

We will consult with tax agents to understand how they currently use communication preferences and what support the ATO could provide to increase the use of digital preferencing for client mail interactions.

• Tax agents

Feedback confirmed the need to:

• review and update the ‘in Online services for agent’ help screens with a link to information on how to use communication preferences
• provide further education, via general tax agent communication articles, on how to use communication preferencing, the associated benefits, and the 2-step process to update and apply communication preferences.

Aleksandra Frendo, Frontline Business Improvement
ServiceImprovementTeam@ato.gov.au

To seek feedback on public advice and guidance priorities for Australia’s new build to rent (BTR) development tax incentives.

The Treasury Laws Amendment (Responsible Buy Now Pay Later and Other Measures) Act 2024 and Capital Works (Build To Rent Misuse Tax) Act 2024 received Royal Assent on 10 December 2024. A legislative instrument covering initial standards for the BTR measure was made on 18 December 2024 and further legislative instruments will be made in 2025. The measure commenced from 1 January 2025.

There are some aspects of the law that may not be clear and may require administrative or interpretive guidance for those adopting the BTR laws. The ATO is aware of certain areas where stakeholders may require interpretive assistance. We are consulting to understand what guidance stakeholders require to correctly apply the laws, so we can support their participation and compliance.

We anticipate public advice and guidance will reduce the number of enquiries raised with the ATO on the BTR measure. These enquiries could range from general administrative enquiries through to private binding rulings.

• Professional associations
• Industry representatives

Feedback received has been triaged into 3 groups for further work and proposed treatments.

• Collate policy issue for escalation.
• Additional PAG under consideration.
• Updates to web guidance.

If required we will re-engage with the consultation group following a period of time, allowing industry consideration of the amended determination and the further development and prioritisation of PAG within the ATO.

Blake Sly, Public Groups
Blake.Sly@ato.gov.au

To seek feedback on and deliver enhancements to ATO guidance to help employers understand what is considered ordinary time earnings (OTE).

The ATO is undertaking targeted consultation to gather industry feedback, work through commonly asked questions, and test new and refined content. This will ensure the updated guidance effectively supports employers to determine which as amounts are considered OTE.

• Payroll professionals
• Payroll associations
• Tax and BAS agents

0ver 30 new pages of content have been delivered including enhancements and new practical examples on:

• How much super to pay
• List of payments that are ordinary time earnings
• A brand-new page Payments that are not ordinary time earnings.

Chontelle Weyman, Superannuation and Employer Obligations
Chontelle.Weyman@ato.gov.au

To seek feedback on the design of the Indigenous and Remote Grant Opportunity Guidelines to ensure the guidelines are fit for purpose.

A closed non-competitive grant opportunity is being designed for special projects to be delivered by National Tax Clinics to Indigenous and remote communities, including low socio-economic areas and small businesses. This work will be delivered through the National Tax Clinic program by participating tax clinics who are successful in a closed non-competitive grant round.

We are seeking feedback from tax clinics to inform the design of the grant opportunity guidelines. This is to ensure the guidelines are fit for purpose in line with better practice according to the Commonwealth Grant Rules and Principles 2024. Feedback will inform the application process, including the assessment criteria and types of special projects to be delivered under the grant.

• National Tax Clinics
• Professional associations

An in-depth review of all consultation feedback has been undertaken. The Indigenous and Remote Communities grant opportunity guidelines have been refined to incorporate feedback where appropriate to do so. As a result, the grant design process has been enhanced, including but not limited to the factors for the assessment panel to consider when reviewing grant applications to ensure stakeholder feedback is embedded.

Maryam Awan, Objections and Review
Maryam.Awan@ato.gov.au

To seek feedback on whether public advice and guidance is needed for new law concerning legacy retirement product commutations and reserve allocations.

On 7 December 2024 law came into effect that allows individuals to exit legacy retirement products and changes the treatment of allocations from reserves for contribution cap purposes.

Individuals have a 5-year period to fully commute defined benefit legacy pensions that were previously non-commutable. Certain reserve allocations count toward the non-concessional cap instead of the concessional cap.

• Superannuation industry representatives
• Professional associations

The consultation indicated a preference for ATO web content to be produced to support the measure and confirmed that formal public advice and guidance is not required.

Two main categories of content were identified, and will be addressed to provide guidance on the changes allowing:

• individuals to exit a specified range of legacy retirement products for up to 5 years
• more flexible pathways to make allocations from a reserve.

It was highlighted that Self-Managed Superannuation Fund Regulator’s Bulletin 2018/1 The use of reserves by self-managed superannuation funds may be impacted by the changes and need updating in due course.

Melissa Gardiner, Superannuation and Employer Obligations
Melissa.Gardiner@ato.gov.au

To understand the current and future digital service requirements of the tax profession to enable the ATO to identify opportunities to improve their digital service experience.

This consultation will build upon the insights gathered from our biennial tax professionals digital experience survey and analysis. The survey is used to gather feedback from tax professionals about their experiences with digital services and is part of our evidence-based approach to improving digital experiences for tax professionals. We are consulting to gain deeper insights into this research, which will guide further improvements to ATO digital services for tax professionals in the future.

• Tax and BAS agents

Feedback will be shared with key stakeholders to help shape and influence ATO digital strategies and improve future digital services experiences for tax professionals.

Mallory Wuthrich, Individuals and Intermediaries
Mallory.Wuthrich@ato.gov.au