ATO Commissioner Chris Jordan has announced the launch of “Better as Usual”, a new ATO program aimed at improving people’s experience with the tax system. The program will include four parts:
- Whole-of-system experience: looking at the end-to-end experience to address people’s frustration at sometimes feeling like they have to start all over again when dealing with a new ATO area or staff member.
- Quality of feedback loops: better understanding and documenting people’s past experiences and actions (eg mistakes versus evasion) to make better ATO decisions in the future.
- Complex cases team: a dedicated team to work on the most complex cases, devoting the time and resources necessary to deal with complicated affairs that fall outside the ATO’s normal processes.
- Procedural and cultural safeguards: established to reduce (and ultimately eliminate) any cases where ATO mistakes could have a severe impact on taxpayers.