Latest news with #TaxOmbudsman
Perth Now
4 days ago
- Politics
- Perth Now
Taxman told to tone it down and cut jargon from letters
Lodging a tax return is stressful enough without receiving jargon-filled letters, says an ombudsman telling the taxman to watch their tone. The Australian Taxation Office sends more than 140 million letters and messages to Australians each year, using almost 3000 correspondence templates. But a Tax Ombudsman review examining six commonly used templates found many people still find some of the letters confusing or too technical, and their tone can cause unnecessary stress and anxiety. "We've all received a letter from the ATO at some point and wondered what on earth it was about," Tax Ombudsman Ruth Owen said. "The ATO focuses on what it wants to say, not what the taxpayer needs to know, without thinking about how the letter will be read or interpreted." Ms Owen noted the direct language used "can sometimes seem threatening and imply guilt or assign blame to the reader". The report referred to a 2023 campaign where the ATO wrote to recipients about historical debts, whose tone independent federal MP Andrew Wilkie described as having "more than a whiff of Robodebt". The ATO was ultimately forced to pause the campaign. She explained that the sampling of letters examined found the ATO assumes the reader has good technical tax knowledge, proficiency in English and understands all the terms being used. The 44-page report, which drew on the analytical skills of a plain language expert, also concluded the ATO's letters lacked empathy for the reader in some circumstances. Some of the ATO letters exhibited "lengthy, complex sentence structures and illustrated how they reduce readability", the expert said. The ombudsman added the letters could be couched in language and terms that could better support culturally and linguistically diverse audiences, First Nations people and people living with disability. The extensive examination also found letters were not always going to the right taxpayer. It recommended the office could better work with taxpayers and tax agents to ensure letters were sent to the right address. The ATO accepted all four recommendations by the ombudsman to improve its letter writing.
The Age
15-07-2025
- The Age
Misleading ATO statement could have put trio in jail for a decade
A misleading witness statement tendered to court by an ATO officer that could have sent three innocent Australians to jail has been uncovered. The document was discovered by businessman Jae Jang through Freedom of Information laws and will now form part of an independent investigation by the Tax Ombudsman into a decade-long case first exposed by A Current Affair and published by this masthead. ATO officer Anthony Rains was the lead investigator in the criminal prosecution of Jang and two of his employees, Gold Coast-based Debbie and Bill Ingleton. The trio were charged in late 2017 with conspiracy to defraud the Australian Taxation Office, which carries a maximum sentence of 10 years' jail. Jang was arrested just days before Christmas that year, and may have spent three weeks in jail had extradition to Queensland been successful. After 2½ years with strict bail conditions, the charges were dropped with 'no evidence to offer'. It can now be revealed that a witness statement, tendered by another ATO officer, appears to have had a crucial line added to it by Rains. 'Anthony Rains is the criminal investigator taking witness statements, he should be independent,' Jang said. 'However, in this case, it's clearly shown that he has actually written that for the witness, which, in my view, is totally wrong.'
Sydney Morning Herald
15-07-2025
- Sydney Morning Herald
Misleading ATO statement could have put trio in jail for a decade
A misleading witness statement tendered to court by an ATO officer that could have sent three innocent Australians to jail has been uncovered. The document was discovered by businessman Jae Jang through Freedom of Information laws and will now form part of an independent investigation by the Tax Ombudsman into a decade-long case first exposed by A Current Affair and published by this masthead. ATO officer Anthony Rains was the lead investigator in the criminal prosecution of Jang and two of his employees, Gold Coast-based Debbie and Bill Ingleton. The trio were charged in late 2017 with conspiracy to defraud the Australian Taxation Office, which carries a maximum sentence of 10 years' jail. Jang was arrested just days before Christmas that year, and may have spent three weeks in jail had extradition to Queensland been successful. After 2½ years with strict bail conditions, the charges were dropped with 'no evidence to offer'. It can now be revealed that a witness statement, tendered by another ATO officer, appears to have had a crucial line added to it by Rains. 'Anthony Rains is the criminal investigator taking witness statements, he should be independent,' Jang said. 'However, in this case, it's clearly shown that he has actually written that for the witness, which, in my view, is totally wrong.'
