The Government today released a report by the Inspector General of Taxation into the Australian Taxation Office's administration of GST refunds arising from the lodgment of Business Activity Statements (BAS).
The Inspector-General's Review of Tax Office administration of GST refunds resulting from the lodgment of credit BAS made the key recommendation that the Tax Office should improve its systems to better match the risks associated with paying GST refunds. Those systems should achieve a better balance between timely refunds of GST and the prevention of payment on fraudulent or incorrect refund claims. The Inspector-General further recommended that the Tax Office establish 'whole of office' systems to measure the total elapsed time for the payment of GST refunds.
The Commissioner of Taxation has agreed with and accepted the recommendations.
Based on the Tax Office's experience in checking GST refunds over the past 4 years, it has been able to refine the criteria for selecting refunds requiring review. The Commissioner estimates that these revised arrangements will result in a further 8,000 taxpayers having their GST refunds issued without the need for checking prior to release.
The Tax Office has also indicated it will enhance its systems to monitor the total time taken to process GST refund claims, and publish statistics on the number of days it takes to pay a GST refund after lodgment of either a paper or electronic BAS.
The report, which also contains the ATO's response, is available at www.igt.gov.au.