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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...

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...

We’ve come to the conclusion that the truth about the Australian Taxation Office’s bullying of self-employed people will only come out in a full Royal Commission inquiry.

We’ve been strongly prompted to this conclusion by an article in The Australian yesterday by the doyen of business columnists, Robert Gottliebsen. Robert is correct in his article 'The ATO is repeating the hideous mistakes of bank boards'. More...

We read yesterday in the Australian Financial Review that the Australian Taxation office is implementing a new process on fraud and evasion ‘opinions’. Remember that the ATO has two years to query your tax return. After that, your return is locked in.

But, if the ATO ‘forms an opinion’ that you committed fraud or evasion, it can go back in time as long as it likes. The ATO doesn’t have to prove fraud or evasion, just ‘form an opinion’. This power has been massively abused by the ATO, mainly against self-employed people! More...

Since the Four Corners show ‘Mongrel Bunch of Bastards’, which exposed the abuse by the ATO of small business people, the ATO has been in denial mode. The ATO’s press release is essentially a ‘nothing to see here folks’ statement.

The Australian Services Union, representing ATO staff, has demanded that we at Self-Employed Australia apologise for ‘scurrilous’ accusations. It is outraged by our statements in our submission opposing the ATO credit agency report Bill. It’s pleasing to report that this Bill has now been put ‘on hold’ by the Minister, Kelly O’Dwyer.  More...

ATO today released a Media Statement in response to the Four Corners show ('Mongrel Bunch of Bastards') last night.

To our mind the ATO is in denial. But we will leave you to judge. Its release is below. Also, the ATO union—the ASU—has defended the ATO.

Again you judge! More...

If you watched ABC Four Corners last night, the evidence of the ATO's abusing its powers against small business people was compelling.

However, it’s one thing to understand the abuse! It’s another thing to find solutions. That’s why we’ve put together, with considerable legal input, a reform agenda for the ATO.

Today we launch, The Power to Audit is the Power to Destroy. More...

The evidence mounts on the ATO’s abuse of its powers with small business people. This will culminate in the Four Corners full story this Monday, ABC 8:30.

We highly recommend you watch this. The Four Corners TV promo is here. 

There has already been considerable coverage: More...

We thought we’d been strong in our criticism of the Australian Taxation Office! But the ABC Four Corners show airing this Monday 9 April at 8.30pm takes the criticism to a whole new level!

We’ve said of the ATO that it: More...

Some might say 'Panic.' We say 'Be aware!' 'Be prepared!'

Our coverage and criticism of the ATO's treatment of small business people is extensive. See here.  We understand why some people might think we are exaggerating. Surely the stories are 'one-offs?'  More...