Annual Compliance Arrangements with Large Corporate Taxpayers
Table 3.3: Initiation of discussions to enter an ACA: ATO or taxpayer
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- Promoting ACAs 3.24
| Table 3.3: Initiation of discussions to enter an ACA: ATO or taxpayer 2008 2009 2010 2011 2012 2013 2014 (to July) ATO initiated 1 2 9 1 2 2 1 Taxpayer initiated 1 0 2 1 1 1 0 Cumulative total ACAs entered into 2 4 15 17 20 23 24 Source: ANAO analysis. 3.23 Overall, the take‐up of ACAs has been slow over the six years since they were introduced. While the ATO did not expect all large corporate taxpayers to enter into an ACA, only 24 of the some 100 corporate taxpayers offered an ACA have entered into one. The ATO advised it is reviewing whether six of these entities (five state government departments and one private sector entity) have sufficiently high consequences of noncompliance to warrant the costs of an ACA. 88 Promoting ACAs 3.24 Information about ACAs is publicly available on the ATO’s website, and the arrangements are promoted through the ATO’s engagement with various industry groups, ATO contacts, community and stakeholder forums. ACAs are also discussed in the ATO’s regular publications on compliance issues such as the Large business and tax compliance booklet, Compliance in Focus, the Large business ACA process map and the ACA—what you need to know webpage. 3.25 Senior Executive Relationship Managers are offered as a contact point for the over 100 key taxpayers categorised by the RDF. These officers work collaboratively with the large corporate taxpayers to facilitate, coordinate and 87 A GST Cooperative Compliance Advance Agreement was a written agreement that formally acknowledged self-regulation and cooperation in accordance with the ATO’s Cooperative Compliance Model. They were withdrawn from use on 27 January 2010. 88 The ACAs entered into with the five state government departments and one private sector entity were in respect of income tax, GST and FBT. ANAO Report No 2014–15 Annual Compliance Arrangements with Large Corporate Taxpayers 64 prioritise high level engagement across the ATO, resolve blockages and issues where other avenues have failed, and arrange access to decision makers for significant issues. As part of their visitation program 89 the relationship managers continue to promote ACAs to those taxpayers identified as potentially suitable. 3.26 The ATO also uses other communication channels to promote ACAs. For example, ATO representatives have spoken about ACAs in speeches and they are promoted in its large business bulletin. 90 Tax forums are another avenue used to inform large corporate taxpayers about ACAs. Stakeholders advised the ANAO that they had attended a number of forums where the ATO has spoken about the benefits of ACAs. The majority of ACA holders interviewed by the ANAO also confirmed that they were aware of ACAs and the key elements of the arrangements, prior to entering into their ACA. Similarly, the majority of large corporate taxpayers interviewed that had chosen not to enter into an ACA were also aware of the nature and content of ACAs. 3.27 While information about ACAs has been broadly disseminated to large corporate taxpayers, there has been no distinct strategy for determining the number or nature of large entities that the ATO would like to enter into ACAs, and what would be the most effective marketing strategy for attracting them. Developing such as a strategy will require the ATO to clarify the purpose of ACAs and where these arrangements fit within the compliance framework for large corporate taxpayers. This issue is currently being considered by the ATO, as discussed later in this chapter. Download 1.48 Mb. Share with your friends:
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