Government Welcomes Commissioner’s Announcement On Interest Rates And Mass Marketed Scheme Participants
The Assistant Treasurer, Senator the Hon Rod Kemp, today welcomed the announcement by the Taxation Commissioner in relation to the interest rate applying to tax debts of mass marketed scheme participants.
The Commissioner has announced that he will reduce interest rates to 5.86 per cent for those who would not be considered to be typical tax scheme participants.
"The Government recognises that this is a very complex issue. While we want to ensure that people meet their tax obligations, we have been concerned that many of those who invested in these mass marketed schemes would not ordinarily be understood to be tax avoiders" Senator Kemp said.
The Commissioner’s announcement follows his earlier announcements of initiatives to assist participants, including ATO visits to towns in Western Australia and other areas as necessary, the allocation of case managers to each taxpayer with scheme related debts, his decision to fund test cases where funding is a barrier to these progressing in a timely way, and his decision not to take legal recovery action on outstanding debts pending these cases, where an objection has been lodged and there is no evidence of action such as dissipation of assets.
"The Government has been concerned that a sympathetic approach needs to be taken in relation to the penalties and interest applied to the tax debts of people who have been inadvertently caught up in these schemes" Senator Kemp said.
The Commissioner will be consulting with the community representatives to develop guidelines for determining who will be eligible for the reduced interest rate.
CANBERRA
26 April 2001
Contact:
Paul Edwards Assistant Treasurer’s Office (02) 6277 7360
Michael O’Neill Australian Taxation Office (02) 6216 1901