Australian Taxation Office

The Australian Taxation Office (ATO) is an Australian Government statutory agency and the principal revenue collection body for the Australian Government. The ATO has responsibility for administering the Australian federal taxation system and superannuation legislation. Responsibility for the operations of the ATO are within the portfolio of the Treasurer of the Commonwealth of Australia.

As the Australian Government's principle revenue collection body, the ATO collects income tax, Goods & Services Tax (GST) and other federal taxes for the government. The ATO also has responsibility for managing the Australian Business Register, delivering the Higher Education Loan Programme, delivering many Australian Government payments and administering key components of Australia's superannuation system. ^[1]

1 Organisational structure
2 Performance
3 See also
4 References
5 External links

Organisational structure

The Commissioner of Taxation is responsible for the general administration of the tax system and the ATO. The Commissioner of Taxation and three Second Commissioners of Taxation are each appointed for a term of seven years. The Commissioner and Second Commissioners are eligible for re-appointment after each term.^[2] The current Commissioner is Michael D'Ascenzo (appointed in January 2006), the previous Commissioner was Michael Carmody.

The ATO's operations are managed through sub-plans which are used to allocate resources. The sub-plans are:

Compliance
Corporate Services & Law
Enterprise Solutions and Technology
Operations^[3]

Sub-plans are further divided into Business and Service Lines (BSLs) which are responsible for the delivery of sub-plan priorities. Individual BSLs may focus on a particular market segment and revenue product.

Performance

The Commissioner of Taxation is required to prepare and release an Annual Report each financial year. The Annual Report outlines the ATO's performance and achievements for each financial year.

Some of the highlights outlined in the 2008-09 Annual Report include:

Net cash collections were $264.5 billion. (1.2% above the 2009 Budget forecast for 2008–09);
About $41.2 billion collected in GST for state and territory governments;
Some 86% of individuals and 90% of businesses agree that the ATO is doing a good job, and 86% of tax agents feel that ATO systems and processes are being improved to make it easy for them to deal with Australia’s tax system.^[4]

Some of the highlights outlined in the 2006-07 Annual Report include:

net tax collections increased to A$248.0 billion;
1,508,847 registrations were received and processed;
18,024,081 activity statements and 14,324,880 income tax returns were processed;
the growth of debt was slowed to 5.4% for the year, compared with 6.4% in 2005-06;
1,573,993 debt cases were finalised.^[5]

References

^ "Who are we?". Commonwealth of Australia. 2008-05-26. http://www.ato.gov.au/corporate/content.asp?doc=/content/53363.htm&pc=001/001/002/007/003&mnu=39512&mfp=001&st=&cy=1. Retrieved 2011-05-30.
^ "ComLaw Act Compilations - Attachment - Taxation Administration Act 1953". Commonwealth of Australia. n.d. http://www.comlaw.gov.au/ComLaw/Legislation/ActCompilation1.nsf/framelodgmentattachments/A4C2BFCF9E5E0EF3CA2573AD0026811A. Retrieved 2008-06-15.
^ http://ato.gov.au/corporate/content.asp?doc=/content/24463.htm&pc=001/001/002/007/002&mnu=39504&mfp=001&st=&cy=1
^ "Commissioner of Taxation Annual Report 2008-09". Commonwealth of Australia. n.d. http://www.ato.gov.au/corporate/content.asp?doc=/content/00216293.htm&page=3&H3. Retrieved 2010-10-27.
^ "Commissioner of Taxation Annual Report 2006-07". Commonwealth of Australia. n.d. http://www.ato.gov.au/print.asp?doc=/content/00108378.htm. Retrieved 2008-06-15.

External links