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Usually, in the lead-up to elections, governments make all sort of promises in the hope that this will give them favour with the electorate. But we’re delighted to report that with small business tax reform the Morrison government is delivering, not simply talking.

Today the government announced that the Small Business Tax Tribunal will start up on the 1 March 2019—just two weeks away. This is huge. We continue to see bad ATO small business audits and an ATO incapable of quickly fixing glaring audit errors. It’s an audit system of considerable incompetence, with small business people the victims.  More...

Yes, we have focused heavily on seeking reform of the Australian Taxation Office in recent times. But the issue is not simply about tax revenue. It’s much bigger. It’s about the rule of law. In this longer-than-normal communication we explain what motivates us by drawing some parallels between China and the ATO.  More...

Bill Shorten’s Labor has announced that it will make unfair contract terms illegal and impose major fines for breaches. This is a position that we totally endorse.

Unfair contract laws protecting small business people were created in November 2015. Big businesses had 12 months to fix their contracts before the laws took effect. But big businesses did nothing. The ACCC has worked hard to enforce the laws but the task is huge when large businesses won’t voluntarily comply. (Idiots! Big business, that is!)  More...

This week ex-Deputy ATO Commissioner Michael Cranston arrived at court for the start of his trial for allegedly using his office with the intention of dishonestly obtaining a benefit for his son.  Cranston was the top tax official in charge of high-wealth individuals. His trial forms a backdrop to questions about the integrity of the Australian Taxation Office.

We’ve raised questions as to whether the ATO suffers from internal corruption. In September last year we released a major report on a special deal handed to high-wealth individuals in 2013. The deal was organised by then-Deputy Commissioner Michael Cranston, with a loss of tax revenue estimated as high as $4.3 billion. There are calls for a high level inquiry. More...

We trust the Xmas pudding and New Year champers have worked through your system and you now feel suitably relaxed as the new business year slowly winds back up.

If you’re after some ‘exciting’ tax reading (yawn!), we had bit of a flurry of submissions we needed to get to the government and parliament before Christmas. Here are a couple of them. More...

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...

The ABC reports that a Federal anti-corruption commission is looking increasingly likely. This five-minute ABC television clip explains that:

• Federal Labor has a policy to introduce a National Integrity Commission to investigate possible corruption within the Federal Government.
• The Senate has been conducting an inquiry into an anti-corruption commission.
• Last week the Senate passed a motion calling for a debate on the issue.

and

• The Federal government is apparently considering an anti-corruption commission.

But here’s a question. Will an anti-corruption commission be able to investigate the Australian Taxation Office? Would the ATO fight hard to be excluded? More...

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...