ATO's 'Change Program' Reviewed

by Mary Swire, Tax-News.com, Hong Kong

20 May 2011

Australia's Assistant Treasurer and Minister for Financial Services and Superannuation, Bill Shorten, has released the Inspector-General of Taxation's report entitled: 'Review into the Australian Taxation Office's Change Program'.

The Inspector-General's report focuses on the impact the Change Program had on the processing of income tax returns and refund payments for taxpayers and tax practitioners.

"The Inspector-General identified a number of risks with the Change Program project in this report and, while he has generally found the ATO developed appropriate mitigation strategies, he has also identified some areas for improvement," Shorten said.

The Inspector-General made nine recommendations in his report. Eight recommendations are of an administrative nature and the responsibility of the ATO. The ATO agreed with five recommendations, agreed in part with two recommendations and does not agree with one recommendation.

The remaining recommendation was directed at the Government and relates to the use of standards for large information and communication technology projects. The Government will consider how the elements of this recommendation interact with its existing policies and standards before taking it further.

The Change Program was a comprehensive upgrade of the ATO's information and communications and technology systems to allow it to provide a more efficient service to the Australian community through the implementation of online client portals, an integrated core processing system for tax returns, a single system for case management and a single system for client relationship management.

The Change Program has fundamentally changed many aspects of how work is undertaken in the ATO. The ATO implemented the Change Program in the period late-2004 to mid-2010.

"I would like to thank the Inspector-General for his work on this review," Shorten said.

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