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A proposed new law would effectively empower the Australian Taxation Office (ATO) to bankrupt a business overnight where the ATO held an unproven view that PAYG tax was owed.

The law denies normal access to justice and the truth. It represents a scary step in a progressive crushing of the rule of law in Australia under the excuse of tax collection. We’ve made a submission opposing the Bill. More...

An ATO survey of self-employed small business people who had been in dispute with the ATO during 2017 has produced an embarrassing result for the ATO. The survey, costing close to $1 million, assessed whether people had been treated fairly by the ATO.

The outcome is damning of the ATO’s treatment of the self-employed. If a private business were to receive results like this, heads would be chopped in the senior management ranks. Such results would demonstrate massive customer dissatisfaction. The business would quickly be out of business. More...

Here’s an easy question! What’s the most important thing in business? Answer: Collecting the money you are owed!!! Simple answer, hey, but something too many small business people don’t follow.

Having systems for prompt small business payments is a priority campaign for us. See here and here. More...

The ATO has suffered another major hit to its reputation, this time (and again) from an official government investigation.

You may remember that following the Four Corners show ‘Mongrel Bunch of Bastards’ which exposed ATO abuse of small business people, the Minister, Kelly O’Dwyer, ordered a Treasury inquiry. Both the Small Business Ombudsman and the Inspector-General of Taxation (IGT)  were asked to participate.  More...

Oh dear. Time to start organising information for your accountant for your 2018 tax return. Yes, it’s a drag but it’s gotta be done.

And to make sure you only pay the tax you’re legally required to pay, there are around 14-or-so specific self-employed, small business tax breaks you should check out.

We’ve put together a list from information provided by the Board of Taxation and the Australian Taxation Office. We’ve ‘de-cluttered’ their explanations. (They use too much tax-speak!) Our list is here. More...

Following the ABC Four Corners program ‘Mongrel Bunch of Bastards’ alleging Australian Taxation Office abuse of small business people, the first of three government-ordered reports was released yesterday.

The report from Small Business Ombudsman Kate Carnel states that the ATO has “serious system-wide issues” that result in “…fundamental denial of access to justice for small business.” More...

Quite recently (14 June) we were invited to give evidence before a Senate hearing on the behaviour of the ATO towards small business. This was done within the context of proposals to require government departments to comply with ‘model litigant’ obligations. That is, to behave fairly and ethically!

We made a detailed submission supporting the proposal and explained how the ATO regularly abuses self-employed, small business people. More...

In all our commentary on the Australian Taxation Office, not once have we personalised our criticisms.

Yes, we have said that the Tax Commissioner is a Tax Dictator. But that is a statement of legal fact. All tax power by statute is vested in the Tax Commissioner. And those powers make the Commissioner effectively policeperson, prosecutor, judge, jury and financial hangman. That is, the powers of the office holder of the Tax Commissioner are the powers of a dictator! Here’s what the Tax Commissioner can do to you. More...

We’re mighty proud of our achievement in securing unfair contract protections for self-employed, small business people. It was a campaign we started in 2009. Here’s our campaign history. It was tough work.

The Australian Bankers Association strongly opposed us and we had several polite but unsuccessful meetings with them. They fought to kill the Bill in 2015, but thanks to some hard work and the Senate our campaign succeeded. The laws started in late 2016. More...

Yesterday morning the head of the Australian Taxation Office, Mr Chris Jordan, denied that the ATO were a ‘mongrel bunch of bastards’. (See ABC report here.)

Mr Jordan was making a presentation to a Senate Estimates hearing and responding to the Four Corners show on 9 April ‘Mongrel Bunch of Bastards’.

Mr Jordan also rejected our comments in the show that the ATO “cooked people slowly, until you are roasted and you are dead”. Mr Jordan said: “People at the ATO do not get up in the morning thinking who can I destroy or boil to death.” More...