Performance Audit Report: Australian Taxation Office’s Management and Oversight of Fraud Control Arrangements for the Goods and Services Tax

The Australian National Audit Office has published a new performance audit report, Australian Taxation Office’s Management and Oversight of Fraud Control Arrangements for the Goods and Services Tax.

The audit found that:

• The ATO’s management and oversight of fraud control arrangements for the GST is partly effective.
• The ATO has implemented partly effective strategies to prevent GST fraud, but the framework for assessing and managing GST fraud risk is not fit for purpose.
• The ATO has implemented largely effective strategies to detect and deal with GST fraud but does not have a strategy to deal with large-scale fraud events.
• The ATO’s oversight, monitoring and reporting of GST fraud is partly effective, as roles and responsibilities are not clear.

There were five recommendations to the ATO aimed at strengthening assurance and improving responses to fraud events. The ATO agreed to all five recommendations.