INTHEBLACK June 2022 - Magazine - Page 16
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// FAS T F O C U S
STORY GARY ANDERS
AT A
GLANCE
The Australian Taxation
Office is actively
pursuing the recovery
of billions of dollars in
outstanding tax
liabilities, having eased
off on debt collection
procedures during the
height of the pandemic.
A relatively new debt
collection measure is
the Disclosure of
Business Tax Debt,
under which the ATO
can disclose a
taxpayer’s tax debt
information to credit
reporting agencies.
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16 ITB June 2022
A
fter easing off on its debt collection activities
during the height of the COVID-19 pandemic, the
Australian Taxation Office (ATO) is now actively
pursuing the recovery of billions of dollars in
outstanding tax liabilities.
A key part of the ATO’s recovery program has been to
write to individuals and businesses with outstanding tax
debts, warning it will take further action unless they make
contact and develop an acceptable plan to repay them.
“Over the past two years we have taken a tailored
approach to lodgement and payment enforcement in
response to COVID-19 and [other] adverse events,”
says an ATO spokesperson.
“Debt collection activities have now resumed after
a general pause during the lockdowns.”