Chartered Accountants Australia and New Zealand and the Institute of Public Accountants (“the Joint Bodies”) have lodged a submission on the Inspector-General of Taxation and Taxation Ombudsman (IGTO) systemic reviews: draft work plan for 2024-25.

The Joint Bodies have requested the IGTO prioritise a review of the following matters:

• the ATO complaints line or the effectiveness of the registered agent phone line - tax agents have been experiencing multiple, long interactions with ATO systems resulting in higher costs for tax practitioners or taxpayers (where the costs can be passed on by the tax practitioner)
• how pay-as-you-go instalments are issued – from a debt perspective, the inability for some tax practitioners to access notices that have been sent to clients, clients mistrust of communications due to concerns about cyber fraud and ATO administration issues may be contributing to the increasing amount of PAYGI collectable debt.

The Joint Bodies are pleased to see that tax identity fraud has been identified as a priority. A connected issue is client agent linking which has been listed as a long list item. The former IGTO commenced a self-initiated review into tax identity fraud and the ATO processes regarding how clients link to tax practitioners. This review has not been finalised and should be finalised a priority given the ATO intends to extend the client agent linking process to individuals.