House of Representatives Committees

Standing Committee on Economics, Finance and Public Administration

Review of the ANAO audit report No.37 1998-99 on the management of the Tax File Numbers
Media Releases

Media release: 31 March 2000

ATO TAX FILE NUMBER PROBLEMS HEARING CONTINUES MONDAY 9.45am

Improved administration of tax file numbers by the Australian Taxation Office could add more than $500m to the Commonwealth Budget by uncovering fraud that currently goes undetected.

Options to reform aspects of the ATO's administration of the TFN system will be discussed with the Department of Finance and Administration, Treasury and the Child Support Agency when the House Economics Committee holds its next TFN hearing in Canberra on Monday 3 April 2000.

Committee Chairman, Mr David Hawker MP, said, 'DoFA, Treasury and the CSA are well positioned to comment on the benefits that can be gained from improving the TFN system.'

'DoFA plays a central role in determining the annual Commonwealth Budget allocations and has a key responsibility in ensuring efficient operation of departments through, for example, Pricing Agreements that are negotiated with government agencies. DoFA will be asked about these in relation to the ATO.'

'Treasury has a central role in developing taxation policy and is therefore ideally placed to be questioned about the impact of poor systems on policy implementation and the broader policy issues raised in the audit report.'

Treasury will also be asked about the arrangements for the maintenance of the ABN, considering the existing shortcomings of TFNs (including 3.2 million more TFNs than there are taxpayers), and the potential problems of duplicate numbers and reporting requirements.

'The CSA is heavily reliant on ATO data and the TFN system in administering child support', said Mr Hawker. 'This means that limits in data and systems quality identified by the Auditor-General's report on TFNs can affect CSA business. Any data matching is also limited by the shortcomings of ATO data. The CSA provides an example of how the flow-on effects of the TFN system can have whole-of-government consequences.'

'DoFA, Treasury and the CSA will also be asked to comment on options for extending the TFN quotation regime to reduce the risk to revenue that was raised initially by the Auditor-General and the integrity and quality of ATO's systems and TFN data, which have serious whole-of-government consequences', said Mr Hawker.

Ends // 31 March 2000

Further information:
David Hawker MP (Chairman) 02 - 6277 4100 (Parliament House)
Melissa Stutsel (Principal Research Officer) 02 - 6277 2319
Email: EFPA.Reps@aph.gov.au

Public Hearing Program

Date: Monday 3 April

Time: 9.45am - 10.30am Department of Finance and Administration

10.30am - 11.15am Treasury

11.15am - 12.00pm Child Support Agency

Location: Committee Room 2R1, Parliament House, Canberra

Note: The hearing is to be broadcast on the Parliamentary Internet site at: http://webcast.aph.gov.au/livewebcast1.asp

Information on the progress of the inquiry is available on the Committee's website at: http://www.aph.gov.au/house/committee/efpa/TFNaudit/tfnindex.htm

Committee Membership 39th Parliament

Chairman: Mr David Hawker MP
Deputy Chairman: Mr Gregory Wilton MP
Members:
Mr Anthony Albanese MP
Ms Anna Burke MP
Ms Teresa Gambaro MP
Mrs Kay Hull MP
Mr Mark Latham MP
Mr Christopher Pyne MP
Hon Alex Somlyay MP
Dr Andrew Southcott MP

For a copy of the Audit Report No 37 - Management of Tax File Numbers:

Contact the Australian National Audit Office (02 6203 7685) or their website http://www.anao.gov.au

Or Government Info Shops or their website http://www.ausinfo.gov.au