Australian Taxation Office - AbsoluteAstronomy.com

The Australian Taxation Office (ATO) is an Australian Government statutory agency and the principal revenue collection body for the Australian Government. The ATO has responsibility for administering the Australian federal taxation system

Taxation in Australia

There are many forms of taxation in Australia. Individuals and companies in Australia may be required to pay taxes or charges to all levels of government: local, state, and federal governments...

and superannuation

Superannuation in Australia

Superannuation is a retirement program in Australia. It has a compulsory element whereby employers are required by law to pay an additional amount based on a proportion of an employee's salaries and wages into a complying superannuation fund.An individual's superannuation fund can be accessed...

legislation. Responsibility for the operations of the ATO are within the portfolio of the Treasurer of the Commonwealth of Australia.

As the Australian Government's principle revenue collection body, the ATO collects income tax

Income tax

An income tax is a tax levied on the income of individuals or businesses . Various income tax systems exist, with varying degrees of tax incidence. Income taxation can be progressive, proportional, or regressive. When the tax is levied on the income of companies, it is often called a corporate...

, Goods & Services Tax (GST)

Goods and Services Tax (Australia)

The GST is a broad sales tax of 10% on most goods and services transactions in Australia. It is a value added tax, not a sales tax, in that it is refunded to all parties in the chain of production other than the final consumer....

and other federal taxes for the government. The ATO also has responsibility for managing the Australian Business Register, delivering the Higher Education Loan Programme

Tertiary education fees in Australia

As a general rule, all students who attend Australian tertiary education institutions are charged higher education fees. However, several measures are in place to relieve the costs of tertiary education in Australia....

, delivering many Australian Government payments and administering key components of Australia's superannuation system.

Organisational structure

The Commissioner of Taxation

Commissioner of Taxation of the Commonwealth of Australia

Australian Taxation Commissioners* George McKay - 1910 to 1916*Robert Ewing - 1917 to 1939* Lawrence Jackson - 1939 to 1946* Patrick McGovern - 1946 to 1961* John O'Sullivan - 1961 to 1963* Daniel Canavan - 1963 to 1964* Edward Cain - 1964 to 1976...

is responsible for the general administration of the tax system and the ATO. The Commissioner of Taxation

Commissioner of Taxation of the Commonwealth of Australia

and three Second Commissioners of Taxation are each appointed for a term of seven years. The Commissioner and Second Commissioners are eligible for re-appointment after each term. The current Commissioner is Michael D'Ascenzo (appointed in January 2006), the previous Commissioner was Michael Carmody

Michael Carmody

Michael Carmody was the Commissioner of Taxation of the Commonwealth of Australia from January 1993 to 31 December 2005 and is currently the Chief Executive Officer of the Australian Customs and Border Protection Service.-Career in tax administration:...

.

The ATO's operations are managed through sub-plans which are used to allocate resources. The sub-plans are:

Compliance
Corporate Services & Law
Enterprise Solutions and Technology
Operations

Sub-plans are further divided into Business and Service Lines (BSLs) which are responsible for the delivery of sub-plan priorities. Individual BSLs may focus on a particular market segment and revenue product.

Performance

The Commissioner of Taxation

Commissioner of Taxation of the Commonwealth of Australia

is required to prepare and release an Annual Report each financial year. The Annual Report outlines the ATO's performance and achievements for each financial year.

Some of the highlights outlined in the 2008-09 Annual Report include:

Net cash collections were $264.5 billion. (1.2% above the 2009 Budget forecast for 2008–09);
About $41.2 billion collected in GST for state and territory governments;
Some 86% of individuals and 90% of businesses agree that the ATO is doing a good job, and 86% of tax agents feel that ATO systems and processes are being improved to make it easy for them to deal with Australia’s tax system.

Some of the highlights outlined in the 2006-07 Annual Report include:

net tax collections increased to A$248.0 billion;
1,508,847 registrations were received and processed;
18,024,081 activity statements and 14,324,880 income tax returns were processed;
the growth of debt was slowed to 5.4% for the year, compared with 6.4% in 2005-06;
1,573,993 debt cases were finalised.

Organisational structure

Performance

See also