So the National Tax Practitioner Conference wrapped up in Darling Harbour today. The amazing thing is that the ATO is suggesting professional tax agents are behind and need to accept technological changes are inevitable, on the way, and being led by the ATO. The reality is professional tax agents have already changed the way they do business, and it is the ATO that has unreliable systems with a multitude of errors that drags tax agents down, and the ATO is the one that is trying to get its house in order. Standard Business Reporting (SBR), which so many people who will be affected by have not yet heard of it, will basically concentrate problems. Now, one part of the system can fall down (eg tax agent portal), but other parts will still work (ELS, ASIC etc). But once SBR is in, one thing falls, everything will fall, and nothing will be done. The rhetoric from the ATO should be amusing, but it is scary. The ATOs management of the problems with the tax agent portal, the $800m gorilla computer system upgrade 3-4 years ago, the miss-managed public ATO website upgrade last year, provide no confidence that the ATO will suddenly produce a positive result this time, with everything coming up roses. With everything integrated, it could be a disaster - rather than just stuffing up one thing, SBR could produce a whole new ball game.
Posted on: Wed, 18 Jun 2014 07:33:12 +0000
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