In what would seem a rather startling revelation in The Australian yesterday, Robert Gottliebsen comments that, pending an explanation, in his view
“…as it now stands, there is one law for the alleged criminals and another for law-abiding, taxpaying people.”He asks how this is possible and says:
“One explanation is that the ATO is completely above the law and not subject to any laws that elected politicians may choose to pass.”More...
Late last night the news broke of the Morrison government’s decision to create a Small Business Tax Tribunal. Robert Gottliebsen in The Australian has scooped the story.
We launched a campaign in February last year for a Small Business Tax Tribunal. Obviously, we are hugely pleased to see the Morrison government take this initiative for fair treatment of small businesses. More...
Yes, well it’s pretty obvious that the political system is in chaos. But despite the turmoil we thought we’d give you some updates on a few more sane things (from our perspective) that are coming through.
Free legal advice in ATO disputes
The Labor opposition is talking of funding free legal advice on tax matters to low-income taxpayers if they win government. It’s further recognition by Labor of the unequal power relationship between small business people and the ATO. More...
You may have seen the big ‘win’ by the ATO against BHP which has agreed to pay an extra $529 million in tax. In a statement an ATO spokesperson said: “I want to assure the Australian community the ATO does not settle matters at any cost or give favourable settlements to the large end of town.” Ummm? Let’s look at the evidence. More...
The ABC reports that a Federal anti-corruption commission is looking increasingly likely. This five-minute ABC television clip explains that:
In an article in The Australian today ('When the Taxman proves to be a monster)' we argue that the prosecution powers of the Australian Taxation Office should be removed from the ATO and transferred to an independent body under the Attorney-General’s department.
We give examples of the ATO’s alleged abusive behaviour in litigation to demonstrate why the ATO should not be investigator, prosecutor, judge and jury all in one. This is the current situation. More...
Today we give a very big thanks to Ali Noroozi who is retiring this month after ten years as the Inspector-General of Taxation (IGT).
Eager followers and members of Self-Employed Australia will be well aware of our extensive and ongoing campaigns to extract fairness from the Australian Taxation Office.
But not many people (outside the public service) are likely aware of the extent to which the office of the Inspector-General of Taxation has been extracting measures of fairness from the ATO. More...
It was an interesting week last week when witnessing the contrasting faces of the Australian Taxation Office displayed before various Parliamentary Committees.
On Wednesday (24 October) the ATO appeared before Senate Estimates. The Tax Commissioner said this: More...
This year we have been highlighting the unfair treatment of self-employed people by the ATO. We’ve been doing a lot of work talking to politicians from all parties, senior public servants and the media. Self-Employed Australia continues to support and assist those who are under ATO attack.
Now we need your help. More...
If you’re not happy with your treatment by the ATO, you have a chance to put your story on the record. But you need to be quick. We’ve just become aware that the Parliamentary Committee that most closely reviews the ATO is calling for last-minute stories from people about their treatment by the ATO. Self-Employed Australia will be putting in a submission. More...
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