Fed: Lawyers, doctors, accountants worst at tax debt: report

AAP General News (Australia)
12-20-1999
Fed: Lawyers, doctors, accountants worst at tax debt: report

By Debra Way

CANBERRA, Dec 20 AAP - Lawyers, accountants and doctors were leading the way among
Australia's professions when it came to not paying their tax bill, an auditor's report
showed today.

The Australian National Audit Office report said people in those professions had an
average level of tax debt nearly five times the national average.

Barristers had an average tax debt nearly 10 times the national average.

"Whilst the average level of debt per occupation is only 2.6 per cent, over 20 per
cent of taxpayers in these professions are tax debtors," the report said.

The auditor's report said a tax office crackdown on the cash economy and tax avoidance
had helped it recoup almost 30 per cent more debt in the last financial year.

It found the Australian Tax Office (ATO) had improved its debt recovery performance
since the last audit report in 1996, despite having its resources in that area cut by
20 per cent.

"The ATO has recently been targeting compliance problem areas such as the cash economy,
aggressive tax planning, tax avoidance and evasion," the report said.

"This has resulted in the raising of almost 30 per cent more debt in 1998-99 than in prior years.

"At the same time, the ATO has reduced the amount of debt written off."

The value of debt referred to the ATO for collection was about $17.6 billion in 1998-99.

The amount of debt finalised was about $15.5 billion.

The audit report said the tax office would need to smarten its methods of debt collection
to keep pace with the massive changes to come in with the federal government's new tax
system.

It recommended the tax office outsource the collection of some debt as well as establish
a strategic partnership with agencies like Centrelink.

It also recommended making better use of the full range of databases to which the tax
office had access, or could have access, including those of credit reference bureaus.

The report said Tax Commissioner Michael Carmody had recently allocated an extra $10
million to the debt recovery area for each of the next three years.

AAP daw/bdm/de

KEYWORD: TAX DEBT

1999 AAP Information Services Pty Limited (AAP) or its Licensors.