Contents - Connect-World

National Development
Using these methods has enabled the
Tax Office to develop and deliver new
products and services and improve
existing ones, which better meet taxpayers’
needs. For example:
ˆ The website www.ato.gov.au has
been redesigned to make it easier to
find the right information;
ˆ Options for streamlining income tax
return preparation and lodgment have
been tested with selected taxpayers.
For example, PhonePack, which
allows taxpayers with straightforward
returns to prepare them on paper and
lodge them on the telephone using a
voice recognition system;
ˆ Improved phone services for each
group starting with a priority service
for tax agents;
ˆ Trials of specialised phone services
for specific industry groups and subgroups;
ˆ Tailored websites for tax agents and
businesses via the Tax Agent Portal
and Business Portal which provide
details about their tax accounts and
registration information and facilitating
a range of activities, such as,
online lodgement for a range of forms,
requests for transfers and refunds,
and sending secure messages to and
from the Tax Office.
Future direction
Whilst much has been achieved over
the last two years, there is a lot of work
to be done over the coming three
years.
The Tax Office will continue to work
with the community to identify
changes and improvements to products
and services.
In terms of technology, the Tax
Office’s Change Programme will help
bring systems into current day technology
framework, replacing core
legacy applications, and improving
operational performance and efficiencies.
The Change Programme has three
broad phases:
ˆ Phase One was the high level planning
phase which confirmed that the
key outcomes from the Change
Programme are to deliver an
improved taxpayers’ experience,
reduce Tax Office costs and have more
flexible technology;
ˆ Phase Two (April
2004 to September
2004) was the
design for the programme;
ˆ Phase Three is
implementation
and runs from
September 2004
through to 2007.
The Change Programme
is making effective
plans for developing,
improving and using
various customer
contact channels
(such as online,
phone and paper) for delivering products
and services. As part of this, the
Tax Office has assessed current channel
use and has proposed improvements.
Whilst the Tax Office wants to optimise
the use of particular channels it
will not degrade other channels and
will continue to support traditional
methods such as paper and phones.
As well, the Change Programme is
about building insight and intelligence
from "data mining" and data analysis.
This insight and intelligence is used to
produce profiles, reports and models,
which help the Tax Office understand
and predict taxpayers’ behaviour.
A better understanding of taxpayers
means they will benefit from receiving
information, which is relevant to
them, their compliance history and
risk profile.
The Tax Office is continuing to explore
opportunities for integrating tax-related
activities with natural systems.
Two examples are its work in the areas
of facilitated lodgment and web services.
In facilitated lodgment, a clients software
package interfaces with another
system to transfer data required to
complete an online transaction.
In web services, data are transferred
directly from the clients electronic
accounts to the Tax Office. The Tax
Office is working with providers of
commercial software to enable electronic
lodgment of activity statements
via web services and has commenced a
pilot of this.
Figure 1: In web services, data are transferred directly from the client’s electronic
accounts to the Tax Office.
Taxpayers will get better phone services
when the Tax Office has a system
that provides a consolidated view of
their contact history. This will contribute
to improved customer service
and increased resolution of calls at the
first point of contact.
For individual taxpayers, a range of
additional calculators and expert systems
will assist in the determination
of such as individual zone and overseas
forces tax offsets, depreciation,
foreign exempt income and forward
losses.
The Tax Office will continue to
improve the Business Portal and Tax
Agent Portal to provide new and
enhanced functions, with more information
and processing.
Case study: the tax agent
portal
The idea of the tax agent portal came
from the Listening to the Community
programme. Tax agents were asked
what they wanted. Working with tax
professional associations and tax
agents, the Tax Office determined the
information and functions they most
needed.
The first release of the portal was in
October 2002 after which the Tax
Office gathered reactions and, through
releases during 2003 and 2004,
increased the functions of the portal.
What it now offers tax agents includes
the ability to:
ˆ Access balances and details for
accounts;
ˆ View details of debts;
ˆ Request transfers between accounts
and refunds of credit balances;
ˆ Update preference for receiving
activity statements;
ˆ View schedules of activity statements;
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