The ATO has welcomed the release of the Inspector-General of Taxation and Taxation Ombudsman’s report into the Future of the Tax Profession, which was requested by the Commissioner of Taxation.
Deputy Commissioner Alison Lendon said the report touched on a wide range of areas and provided useful input into the opportunities and challenges ahead for tax professionals.
“Like so many other professions, tax professionals are experiencing a number of changes in the way they work and the nature of their role. This report explores a range of those areas and provides some important insights.
“We work very closely with the profession and are talking to practitioners constantly about how we can provide new services and refine existing services to assist them and to help the tax and superannuation systems work smoothly.
“The Inspector-General has quite rightly focused on digital services and their increasingly important role. We are well advanced on a number of areas noted in the report, including our new Online services for agents, provision of Application Programming Interfaces (APIs) to digital service providers and the extensive program to increase stability across our systems.
“We are constantly undertaking research into new and emerging technologies to assess their impact on the tax and superannuation ecosystems and our clients. We will continue to communicate, co-design and consult with the profession when considering new technology.” Ms Lendon said.
While a number of the recommendations for the ATO are already underway or fall outside the ATO’s remit, the ATO welcomes the Inspector-General’s recommendations and observations about the important role of tax professionals into the future.
