Page 2851 - Week 09 - Tuesday, 19 September 2006
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The final amendment is in relation to payment methods accepted by the commissioner. The bill introduces a provision that requires transactions undertaken using the new electronic service to be paid for electronically in accordance with the approval to use the service. With the closure of the revenue office’s public counter, cash payments can no longer be accepted. It is therefore necessary to amend the Taxation Administration Act to remove the requirement to accept cash payments at the office of the commissioner. This is not expected to inconvenience taxpayers, as cash payments constitute less than one per cent of all duty payments. The majority of transactions are paid by bank cheque, money order or credit card. All taxes, other than duty, can be paid elsewhere—for example, at ACT government shopfronts, Canberra Connect payment portal, Australia Post, BPAY and via mail.
The ACT Revenue Office will continue to cater for clients who cannot access the online service, and for duty transactions that cannot be processed electronically. A drop-off box for documents and payments made by cheque or money order will be provided at a convenient location within the ACT Revenue Office. These transactions will be assessed by ACT Revenue Office staff and returned to the lodging party. Expected turnaround times for documents and payments lodged in this manner will be clearly displayed. As is currently the case, it is the client’s responsibility to ensure they allow sufficient time for documents to be processed. Clients will continue to have access to the customer service call centre and will be able to make appointments to speak to senior staff in relation to any issues that they may have in relation to their tax liability.
Mr Speaker, I note that as a result of the time lapse in relation to the introduction, debate and ultimate passage of this bill, there has been a short time frame for the Standing Committee on Legal Affairs to develop its latest scrutiny report on this legislation. In its report the legal affairs committee drew the attention of the Assembly to what it characterises as “an insufficient definition of the powers of the commissioner under proposed section 239 of the Duties Act to approve the making of an assessment application and the payment of duty electronically, and then to amend, suspend or cancel such an approval”. The query raised by the scrutiny committee was whether there were sufficient guidelines for the exercising of that power and whether any review of that decision would be available. The committee indicated in its report that its primary concern related to the level of guidance provided and how decisions might be made by the commissioner approving access to the new electronic lodgment and payment service and the mechanism for reviewing decisions made by the commissioner.
The government in its response to the scrutiny report has, for the reasons I will just touch on, taken the position that the legislation does not need to be changed in any way to address the concerns of the scrutiny committee—concerns that are well made and have been noted—on the basis that, in the first instance, any decision made by the commissioner would be subject to review in any event by the administrative decisions judicial review framework. So there is a capacity for external independent review of any decision made by the commissioner through the ADJR framework. Secondly, it is proposed that the commissioner will publish a revenue circular at the time of implementation of this particular change which will set out quite clearly the transparency in administration of the decision-making framework in regard to access to the new service. Advice on the administration of that access will be included in the application form which is currently being drafted in consultation with the Law Society of the ACT.
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