Jane Hume (Victoria, Liberal Party, Assistant Minister for Superannuation, Financial Services and Financial Technology) Share this | Hansard source

Sheet 8742 proposes seven separate amendments to schedule 5, disclosure of business tax debts. The amendments propose additional terms be set into legislation that additional consultation be had with the Inspector-General of Taxation, that additional information be provided to the taxpayer ahead of disclosure and that the information relating to a disclosure be shared with the taxpayer's tax or BAS agent. The government's position is to oppose these amendments. We don't agree to support the amendments to schedule 5. We believe that they are unnecessary, they may impact the effectiveness of the measure and they risk breaching the confidentiality of the taxpayer.

Some of the changes include actions that are already undertaken by the ATO or are not clear in their intent and others should not be included as they seek to insert terms that are not defined in the Income Tax Assessment Act 1997. They extend the time frame for reporting and that will impact the overall effectiveness of the measure and increase the risk of a business extending credit to another business with an outstanding debt to the ATO of more than $100,000 for more than three months. They require additional consultation for changes that go above and beyond that which is necessary and which may impact the time it takes for a business's information to be corrected with the credit bureaus, disadvantage the business when they have engaged with the ATO over their debt and potentially require a business's tax information to be shared with a tax agent or BAS agent, risking unauthorised disclosure—for example, when that tax agent is no longer employed by the taxpayer or the taxpayer does not want confidential information to be shared with that agent. In addition, illegal phoenixing has a significant impact on creditors, including businesses, employers and government, of up to $5.13 billion annually and prevents small businesses from operating on a level playing field.