ARTICLE · 10 SEPTEMBER 2024

ATO doubles down on enforcement, uncollected tax reaches unprecedented highs

Worrells

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Who owes all the unpaid taxes? Composition of debt. Collection strategies to intensify. DPNs. Small business restructuring.

AustraliaTax

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How the ATO is reacting to the hand it's been dealt.

In July 2021, I wrote an article: "ATO's generosity won't last forever", which was published in Accountants Daily. The key points of the article were:

The Australian Taxation Office (ATO)'s collection activity had effectively ceased. The use of ATO driven bankruptcies and liquidations had drastically reduced.
Between 2015 and 2020 the Federal Government's accounts receivable had increased by 75%, from $20 billion to $36 billion.

Three years later, gross taxes receivable increased to $82.9 billion. However, the amount of impairment allowance (or "bad debts" allowance) in the Federal Government's accounts has escalated from $13.6 billion in 2017 to $40.3 billion in 2023. That's a 300% increase over six years.

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