ATO pauses on some compliance

The Australian Taxation Office (ATO) has confirmed it will not be undertaking compliance activities with respect to GST advice provided via industry associations to allow for the transition to new legislative arrangements with respect to the general rulings system.

The Tax Commissioner, Michael D’Ascenzo, announced that as a result of the passage of the Tax Laws Amendment (2010 GST Administration Measures No 2) Bill 2010 last week, the general rulings system had been expanded to include excise, GST and other indirect taxes from 1 July this year.

He said one implication of the new regime would be that GST advice previously sent to industry associations for the benefit of their members would no longer have the same effect as public rulings.

“To minimise the impact on taxpayers, the ATO will not undertake any compliance activities for the next 12 months where taxpayers relied on GST advice sent to industry associations for dissemination to their members that was not published on ato.gov.au,” D’Ascenzo said.

However, he said these arrangements would only apply where taxpayers had relied on the advice and the subject of the advice was not covered by a later public ruling.

“This means that the ATO will not undertake compliance activities such as audits or reviews on issues of this nature,” the Tax Commissioner said.