Newsletter
February 2015 Newsletter
Tax Inspector's proposed new complaint-handling powers
The Inspector-General of Taxation is about to obtain new powers to be able to hear tax complaints from individuals. The Government has introduced a Bill into Parliament which proposes to amend the law to transfer the tax investigative and complaint-handling powers of the Commonwealth Ombudsman to the Inspector-General of Taxation, and to merge those powers with the Inspector-General’s existing powers of conducting system reviews of the ATO.
According to the Government, the Inspector-General is well-suited to have the sole jurisdiction to investigate individual complaints about the administration of taxation law matters, in addition to the current systemic function. It said that, under the changes, the Inspector-General will be given all of the powers and functions necessary to comprehensively investigate and handle complaints relating to the administration of taxation laws (of both a systemic and individual nature).