Corporate Plan 2020–2023, p 43

2,775 complaints

In FY20, the IGTO received 2,775 complaints — a 2.3% increase from the 2,712 complaints received in FY19. This represents a 29% increase over the financial year ended 30 June 2016.

Of the complaints received during this financial year, 2,530 related to the ATO (91%), 76 related to the TPB (3%) and 169 related to other matters (6%) such as complaints outside the IGTO’s jurisdiction which were referred to other agencies or bodies.

Every complaint is allocated to a dedicated team member. Our complaints team consists of tax specialists with strong communication skills and requisite professional qualifications and experience to support complainants.

The specific action taken in each complaint case depends upon its history, the nature of issues raised and the outcomes sought. Generally, there are two types of outcomes sought by a complainant.

Firstly, complainants may seek information or independent advice and assurance in relation to ATO or TPB actions. In many of these cases, our team members are able to provide appropriate information, advice and assurance without needing to commence an investigation.

Secondly, complainants may seek a review of ATO or TPB actions or decisions relating to the tax administration system. That is, where they consider the action or decision to be inappropriate or unfair. These complaints require ATO or TPB involvement and are initiated by way of an investigation by our office.

Corporate Plan 2020–2023, p 43

781 complaints — 28.1%

Of the 2,775 complaints received in FY20, 781 complaints were received via the IGTO website, representing 28.1% of all complaints received. The percentage of complaints received via the IGTO website increased by 1.4% compared to FY19. In FY20, most complaints were received over the telephone (1,395 complaints, representing 50.3%).

The increase in the percentage of complaints received via our website may be attributable to changes we made to make it more informative and easier for the community to lodge a complaint with us online.

Corporate Plan 2020–2023, p 43

53 seconds

The average queue time when complainants contact our dedicated complaints telephone line is 53 seconds. This is an increase of 9 seconds compared to FY19.

The transition during that last quarter of FY20 to remote work-from-home arrangements due to COVID-19 distancing requirements may have contributed to this increase. During FY20, the IGTO moved to a new cloud-based ICT platform, which included a new dedicated complaints telephone system. This may also have impacted the way queue time is measured. We have also improved the IGTO’s website to encourage complaints to be lodged online so they may be dealt with more efficiently.

Corporate Plan 2020–2023, p 43

66%

Complaints were acknowledged 66% of the time by an IGTO complaints service team member within 2 business days (3 business days in tax time) during FY20. On receiving a complaint, team members seek to make initial contact with the complainant to ensure their concerns and preferred outcomes are clearly understood and to agree on the most appropriate course of action to be taken. In FY19, we acknowledged 68% of complaints within 2 business days (3 business days in tax time).

During FY20, our complaint investigations workforce was reduced by 28% (7 complaint investigation officers) through natural attrition and due to the COVID-19 environment our capacity to recruit and on board replacement personnel to fill these resource gaps was delayed. Given the small size of our office, the complaints officer outage impacted on our remaining resources and ability to manage and progress complaints as efficiently.

Corporate Plan 2020–2023, p 44

In FY20, the average number of complaints open peaked during the months of September to December. This period has a higher average number of complaints open because our busy time (being July to November) coincides with both ‘tax time’ and major mandatory compliance reporting obligations.

During tax time, demand for our complaints investigation service increases resulting in a higher number of complaints received. In addition, some complaints team members are required to assist with corporate compliance obligations and reporting. The reduced number of complaints team members available to manage and progress complaints together with an increase in complaints received, resulted in higher average number of complaints open during this period.

Corporate Plan 2020–2023, p 44

As noted earlier in this chapter, complaints are categorised based on the type of assistance provided by our complaint services team and the complexity of the investigation.

Category 0–2 complaints are those where the IGTO complaints team provided independent assistance and assurance to the complainants. These complaints are resolved without the need for an independent formal investigation. For category 3–5 complaints, we undertake an independent formal investigation to resolve complainant’s concerns and determine the most appropriate options for resolutions. It should be noted that the population for category 5 complaints is small and fluctuates due to the complexity of the matters investigated.

In FY20, the average number of days to resolve complaints across all categories has increased compared to the average for the period 1 May 2015 to 30 June 2019. There are two factors contributing to the increase in the average number of days to resolve complaints. Firstly, there has been a 6.6% increase per annum in complaints received and an overall increase of 29% across the 5 year period. Secondly, we lost 28% of our complaints team members in FY20 due to natural attrition. This has reduced the size of our team and therefore our capacity to resolve complaints as timely as previous financial years.

Corporate Plan 2020–2023, p 44

15.15%

The IGTO considered the ATO or TPB’s administration actions on the primary concern raised by the complainant to be reasonable in 15.15% of the complaints finalised in FY20.

In these complaints, we provided assurance to the complainants on the ATO’s or TPB’s action or decision.

This measure was a new measure introduced in FY20 and there is no prior year’s result for comparison.

Corporate Plan 2020–2023, p 45

–

After lengthy consideration of the IGTO complaints data and available methodologies, we have not been able to develop a methodology that will provide an accurate measure for this performance measure.

Our complaints service team may suggest actions for the ATO/TPB to take during our complaint investigations. These suggestions are documented in our complaint finalisation letter to complainants but they are not recorded as recommendations in our complaints case management system. We would need to make a significant upgrade to our complaints case management system to be able to report on this measure. This upgrade was not possible in FY20 as we prioritised our move to a new cloud based ICT platform to enable our team to work more effectively from home during the COVID-19 pandemic.

Corporate Plan 2020–2023, p 45

2,785 complaints closed

A total of 2,785 complaints were closed in FY20 compared to 2,827 complaints closed in FY19. The number of complaints closed includes 181 complaints carried forward from FY19.

Corporate Plan 2020–2023, p 45

Independent complaints service survey

The IGTO is committed to providing and maintaining a high standard of service in its interactions with the community and values feedback received from complainants. We engage ORIMA Research Pty Ltd (ORIMA) to conduct independent surveys to evaluate the performance of the IGTO’s complaints service.

The feedback received from the survey demonstrates higher levels of satisfaction compared to our FY19 result. In FY20, 71% of survey respondents reported overall satisfaction with our complaints investigation service (compared to 65% in the previous year), 54% reported overall satisfaction with the outcome of their complaint (compared to 45% in the previous year) and 90% reported satisfaction with the professionalism of our staff (compared to 82% in the previous year). Of those who were not satisfied with their outcome, 48% of respondents nonetheless indicated that they would use our complaints service again. Approximately, 53% of complainants who were contacted by ORIMA provided feedback which is considered a high response rate.

In-house client satisfaction survey

In our in-house telephone response based survey, 89% of respondents (out of a total of 134) gave a satisfaction rating of 4/5 or 5/5. This survey result also reflects the effectiveness of our role in facilitating the resolution of complaints. Whilst not every complainant achieved their preferred outcome, many have still expressed high levels of satisfaction with our complaints investigation service and the professionalism of our staff.

We moved to a new cloud based ICT platform, which included a new dedicated complaints management telephone system. Our ability to monitor the response rates is not yet supported by the new telephone system. Consequently we cannot calculate the response rates to our in-house client satisfaction survey.

The role of our surveys

The IGTO surveys also provide opportunities for us to further improve performance to meet the service expectations of the community. One such area that requires improvement is awareness of the IGTO's role as the taxation ombudsman particularly amongst vulnerable taxpayers including unrepresented individuals and small businesses. To address this, we are implementing a communications strategy which includes a quarterly newsletter, increasing our presence on social media and presenting at appropriate forums including in regional centres. This is subject to COVID-19 travel restrictions.

The service that I received was excellent. It was immediate, I was kept in the loop, he was available, he was knowledgeable, he was willing to assist me, his manner was friendly, he was efficient.

[IGTO investigator] was my investigator and I could not fault his service.

Thank you for your assistance [IGTO investigator], it is greatly appreciated.

The issues have been resolved and I am satisfied with the outcome.

Wishing you all the best.

Thanks a lot for the follow-up email and sorry about my delayed reply. I have contacted [ATO officer] as advised, first three weeks ago and then yesterday. [The ATO] agreed to waive remission of interest and penalties included in the final payable amount.

Please accept my sincere gratitude for your support and help in resolving this issue.

I can't tell you how thankful I am to you, as I am sure if the IGT did not intervene, I would still be waiting [for the ATO to finalise its ruling.

Thank you for your patience with me, as this is the end of a long frustrating period beginning in 2013 for me [sic].

Please know I am so relieved and grateful to you and IGT.

Hi [IGTO investigator]

I wanted to thank you so much for all your help. [ATO officer] from the taxation complaints department was fantastic & [sic] organised someone to help me. They cleared the interest & stopped ongoing interest & [sic] started a weekly payment plan that we were both comfortable with. Thank you so much for all your help.

In FY20, 1,544 investigations were undertaken by our office. Approximately 98% of investigations commenced this financial year related to the ATO with the remainder related to the TPB. Approximately 91% of all investigations undertaken in this financial year were completed.

Section 41 of the Inspector-General of Taxation Act 2003

0

The IGTO has considerable powers to access and obtain information from the ATO and TPB by issuing formal notices. This information would otherwise not be available to taxpayers and tax practitioners due to tax law secrecy provisions.

No such notices were issued in FY20.

The complainant had sought a remission of General Interest Charge (GIC) which was approved by the ATO in full. However, in reviewing his records, the complainant identified that GIC that had been offset against other credits (approximately $4,000) was not included in the remission.

Through our investigation process, the ATO agreed to remit the GIC that had been offset against other credits which resulted in a refund of approximately $4,000 to the complainant.

The complainant was waiting for the rollover of his unclaimed superannuation money from the ATO to a complying superannuation fund so he could fund his knee surgery. The complainant first contacted the ATO approximately 7 weeks prior to lodging a complaint with the IGTO. He also contacted the ATO on multiple occasions to expedite the rollover but without success.

As a result of our investigation, the ATO expeditiously rolled over the complainant’s unclaimed superannuation to his nominated superannuation account and he was able to access it in time to pay for his knee surgery. The complainant was thankful for our assistance.

The taxpayer lodged an income tax return through a tax agent. The income tax return included the tax agent bank account details for any refund due to the taxpayer. The taxpayer then had concerns about the tax agent, after hearing some news in the media. He contacted the ATO to remove the tax agent from his account and requested the ATO to change the bank account details so that the refund would not be paid to the tax agent’s bank account. The ATO suspended the income tax return but did not remove the tax agent from his account as per the taxpayer’s request. Subsequently, the tax agent contacted the ATO to ask the ATO to process the taxpayer’s income tax return which the ATO did and the refund was paid to the tax agent’s bank account. The complainant attempted to contact the tax agent without success to request the tax agent to transfer the refund to his bank account.

Through the IGTO complaint investigation, the ATO acknowledged that they should have processed the taxpayer’s request and removed the tax agent from the taxpayer’s account. If the ATO had processed the request, the tax agent would not have been able to contact the ATO and asked the ATO to process the taxpayer’s income tax return as he would no longer be listed as an authorised contact on the complainant’s account. The ATO also agreed to pay the refund to the complainant’s bank account.

The complainant, who is a small business owner, lodged a complaint with the IGTO with concerns that the ATO had not made a decision about the compliance status of his self-managed superannuation fund (SMSF) and accordingly he could not dispute an ATO’s decision. As a result of the IGTO’s investigation, we raised with the ATO the importance of procedural fairness. We requested and the ATO agreed to make a decision about the compliance status of the complainant’s SMSF which had not been considered by the ATO previously.

The lack of decision by the ATO about the compliance status of the SMSF meant that there were no review rights available to the complainant. The ATO issued its decision about the compliance status of the complainant’s SMSF and it enlivened complainant’s review rights in relation to that decision.

The individual taxpayer had contacted the ATO to request the ATO to provide him a summary of Pay-As-You-Go withholding amount that had been reported and paid to the ATO by his employer. The taxpayer explained that this information will assist him with reconciling the information that he has received from his employer. Before our investigation, the ATO informed the complainant that they are unable to provide him with the information he is seeking because the information belongs to his employer and doing so would be a breach of tax secrecy provisions.

As a result of our investigation, the ATO sought internal legal advice on whether they can release the information to the complainant. The ATO’s internal legal advice confirmed that the information can be provided to the complainant and the ATO released the information to the complainant.

The taxpayer who is a small business owner lodged a complaint via their tax agent about an amount that had been re-debited into her account by the ATO. The ATO had initially credited the amount to the taxpayer’s account in anticipation of changes to legislation which had been announced about superannuation guarantee charge during the proposed amnesty period. However, the legislation did not pass parliament and the ATO re-debited the amount to the taxpayer’s account but did not inform the complainant. The complainant explained that as she was not informed by the ATO, she had to incur fees for her tax agent to contact the ATO to understand why her account did not have a nil balance and why an amount had been re-debited.

Through our complaint investigation process, we provided assurance that the amount had been correctly re-debited by the ATO. We also identified the ATO’s Law Administration Practice Statement (PSLA 2007/11) Administrative treatment of taxpayers affected by announced but unenacted legislative measures which apply retrospectively when enacted only includes scenarios where a taxpayer anticipates the proposed change to legislation and details the ATO’s approach where the anticipated legislation is not enacted. However, PSLA 2007/11 does not outline scenarios where the ATO anticipates the proposed change to legislation and what the outcome would be when the proposed legislative change is not enacted. The ATO agreed to review its PSLA to determine whether changes should be made to reflect situations where the ATO, rather than the taxpayer, anticipates the proposed change to legislation.

Corporate Plan 2020–2023, p 46, [Section 41 of the Inspector-General of Taxation Act 2003]

3

The IGTO commenced three review investigations in FY20:

• Death and Taxes: An Investigation into ATO Systems and Processes for dealing with Deceased Estates — review commenced on 31 October 2019;
• Investigation and Exploration of Undisputed Tax Debts in Australia — review commenced on 31 October 2019; and
• An Investigation into the effectiveness of ATO communications of taxpayers’ rights to complain, review and appeal – review commenced on 30 June 2020.

Corporate Plan 2020–2023, p 46

289

The IGTO continues to engage and consult with public and private sector stakeholders on matters of relevance and interest to the community. The IGTO also captures areas of concerns through broader engagement with the public such as through social media, our website as well as participation at conferences, seminars and discussion groups.

Corporate Plan 2020–2023, p 46

Register of Potential Review Topics has been published on our website and promoted through IGoT News eNewsletter and by email to professional and industry associations and organisations.

The Register of Potential Review Topics which is published on our website identifies potential topics for review based on the IGTO’s engagement with various stakeholders and data collected from the taxation complaints service, as well as other sources. There are currently 27 topics that have been identified in the Register.

In addition to the 27 topics, the IGTO identified one new topic for review from reviewing ATO communications as part of the IGTO complaints service — An Investigation into the effectiveness of ATO communications of taxpayers’ rights to complain, review and appeal.

Corporate Plan 2020–2023, p 47

0

No review investigations were finalised in FY20. This was in part due to extensions of time granted to the ATO to provide comments on final report drafts and reviews being placed on hold (deferred) owing to the priority need to respond to the COVID-19 pandemic. Significant progress was made on the following two reviews in FY20.

Investigation and Exploration of Undisputed Tax Debts in Australia.

On 9 April 2020, the IGTO decided to defer progress of the review investigation and finalisation of the report given the exceptional circumstances arising from the COVID-19 pandemic. Deferring the completion of this review will allow:

• ATO staff to focus on the front-line delivery of the Government’s taxation system support measures for the economy and recovery from the COVID-19 pandemic;
• Our staff to focus on complaints service delivery which is critical to the successful delivery of the Government’s taxation system support measures for the economy and recovery from the COVID-19 pandemic;
• the review investigation to consider any lessons learned from the consolidation of the ATO systems for income tax and activity statements which took place in December 2019/January 2020;
• any final report to include more up-to-date data for FY20;
• the investigation to incorporate insights into the operation of the debt collection provisions in the taxation administration system where there is a deliberate administrative decision to defer the collection and payment of taxation — that is, not to collect tax — because of a natural disaster (floods or bushfires) or a pandemic (such as COVID-19).

Death and Taxes: An investigation into ATO Systems and Processes for dealing with Deceased Estates

The final report on the review investigation into ATO systems and processes for dealing with deceased estates (which commenced on 31 October 2019) was finalised after 30 June 2020 (on 7 July 2020).

Corporate Plan 2020–2023, p 47

–

No review investigations were finalised in FY20.

Corporate Plan 2020–2023, p 47

Confirmed by the Chair of the ATO Audit and Risk Committee on 16 June 2020.

The ATO and TPB have statutory independence in their respective jurisdictions. The IGTO is also an independent statutory appointment but is not empowered to direct the Commissioner of Taxation or the TPB.

Historically, the vast majority of the IGTO’s review investigation recommendations have been accepted in full or in part and the implementation of review recommendations was monitored through follow up reviews.

Assurance that agreed IGTO recommendations have been effectively implemented by the ATO is now provided by the ATO Audit and Risk Committee. As stated in paragraphs 1.22–1.29 (pages 6–7) of the IGTO’s 2014 report, Follow up review into the Australian Taxation Offices implementation of agreed recommendations in five reports released between August 2009 and November 2010.

On 13 May 2020 the IGTO wrote to the Chair of the ATO Audit and Risk Committee. The Chair confirmed in writing on 16 June 2020 as follows:

The IGTO seeks to identify improvements to the ATO and TPB business processes. We adopt a continuous improvement approach that leads to prompt action that benefits taxpayers more broadly.

During our complaint investigations, the ATO or TPB may acknowledge that there is an opportunity for improvement and an ABI may emerge without the need for the IGTO to conduct a formal review. The details of the ABI are captured and its implementation monitored by the IGTO.

In FY20, the ATO accepted 8 ABIs and the TPB accepted 1. The ATO implemented 24 ABIs whilst the TPB implemented 3 ABIs.

Corporate Plan 2020–2023, p 48

100

During FY20, the IGTO and our office met with various stakeholders including the Minister, Government, the Australian Parliament, the ATO/TPB and other stakeholders to discuss areas for Review. These meetings are useful to identify and share areas for potential review to improve the tax administration system for the benefit of the Australian community.

Corporate Plan 2020–2023, p 48; 2019–20 PBS, p 247

11 submissions

3 appearances at public hearings

In FY20, the IGTO lodged 10 submissions in response to various Government, Treasury and Parliamentary reviews relating to tax administration:

• Submission (including two supplementary submissions) to the Senate Economics Legislation Committee’s Review into the Performance of the IGTO;
• Submission to the Senate Economics Legislation Committee’s review of the Treasury Laws Amendment (2019 Tax Integrity and Other Measures No. 1) Bill 2019 (in relation to Tax Debt Transparency);
• Submission to the Treasury’s review into the Tax Practitioner’s Board;
• Submission to the Standing Committee on Tax and Revenue’s Inquiry into the Development of the Australian Corporate Bond Market;
• Submission to the Standing Committee on Tax and Revenue’s Inquiry into the Tax Treatment of Employee Share Schemes;
• Submissions (including one supplementary submission) to the Standing Committee on Tax and Revenue’s Inquiry into the Commissioner of Taxation Annual Report 2018–19;
• Submission to Treasury’s Minor and Technical Legislative Amendments

The IGTO also lodged 1 submission in response to the Australian Information Commissioner’s Discussion Paper on Disclosure of Public Servants’ Names and Contact Details.

The IGTO also appeared at the following hearings:

• Public hearing before the Senate Economics Legislation Committee on Tax Debt Transparency;
• Public hearing before the Senate Economics Legislation Committee in relation to the Review into the Performance of the IGTO;
• Public hearing before the Standing Committee on Tax and Revenue in relation to the Tax Treatment of Employee Share Schemes

This represents a significant increase from previous years, where in FY17 and FY18, 2 submissions were made in each year respectively and in FY19 no submissions were made.

Corporate Plan 2020–2023, p 48

102

The IGTO has noted 102 mentions in various newsletters, updates, reports and conference papers of professional bodies and industry.

Corporate Plan 2020–2023, p 49

Referrals from agencies: 21

Referrals to agencies: 13

The existence of cross referral activity suggests that co-operation and collaboration between agencies is occurring. A more informative KPI is to be developed to monitor this for future years.

Corporate Plan 2020–2023, p 49

210

The IGTO received and provided briefings to the Government, the Australian Parliament, the ATO and/or the TPB. These briefings are important to raise awareness of tax administration issues affecting the community.

Corporate Plan 2020–2023, p 49

All relevant memberships maintained

The IGTO and our team are members of various professional bodies and organisations including:

• Australasian-Pacific Ombudsman Region;
• Australian and New Zealand Ombudsman Association (ANZOA);
• Australian Institute of Administrative Law;
• Australian Institute of Company Directors;
• CPA Australia;
• Chartered Accountants Australia and New Zealand;
• International Ombudsman Institute;
• Institute of Public Accountants (IPA);
• Law Society of New South Wales;
• Society of Consumer Affairs Professionals (SOCAP);
• SOCAP Complaint Handler Certification; and
• The Tax Institute.

Through ongoing membership, the IGTO has maintained strong working relationships with domestic and international counterparts. These organisations serve as both an information network and a point of comparison for best practice and potential benchmarking.

Corporate Plan 2020–2023, p 49

16 domestic conferences/forums

2 international conferences/forums

The IGTO has presented and participated in 16 domestic conferences/forums during the year, consulting with private and public sector stakeholders on its services and engaging with practitioners to identify issues of concern which may require investigation:

• Australasian Tax Teachers’ Association Conference;
• ANZOA Australian and New Zealand Ombudsman Association Annual General Meeting;
• The Tax Institute Death and Taxes Online;
• Executive Assistant Congress;
• Institute of Public Accountants WA Congress;
• IPA National Congress;
• IPA Talks;
• IPA Women in Practice Conference;
• Law Council of Australia Taxation Workshop;
• Society of Consumer Affairs Professionals Symposium;
• The Tax Institute 52nd Western Australia State Convention;
• The Tax Institute Tax Disputes Conference;
• The Tax Institute Financial Services Taxation Conference;
• The Tax Institute Tax Summit 2020;
• University of New South Wales Seminar on Taxation and Business Law; and
• Women in Leadership Symposium

Internationally, the IGTO has participated in conferences in the USA (United States Ombudsman Association Conference) and Taiwan (Australasian-Pacific Ombudsman Region Conference).

The IGTO also attended stakeholder consultations — refer to Performance Measure 4.9 on page 48.

Corporate Plan 2020–2023, p 50

All website links to other agencies are up-to-date.

Our website contains up-to-date links to other agencies including the ATO, TPB, Commonwealth Ombudsman, Australian Small Business and Family Enterprise Ombudsman, Office of the Australian Information Commissioner and Services Australia.

One third of the agencies listed on our website contains valid links on their respective websites to link users to the IGTO website.

Corporate Plan 2020–2023, p 50

606 registered subscribers

There are 606 registered subscribers to the IGTO newsletter as at 30 June 2020, up from 540 in the previous financial year. The IGTO will continue to promote communication through the newsletter in the next financial year. A more informative KPI may be developed for future years.

Corporate Plan 2020–2023, p 50

6,059 Facebook fans

744 Twitter followers

As part of a broader effort to increase community awareness of the Office and our services, we have continued to develop and enhance content on various social media platforms. Our presence on Twitter has continued since 2014, with over 700 Twitter followers and since the launch of its Facebook page in November 2018, it has gained over 6000 Facebook fans. We have also gained 104 followers on LinkedIn since launching its page in February 2019.

These platforms have enabled greater exposure and engagement with a broader cross-section of the community as well as professional stakeholders.

Corporate Plan 2020–2023, p 50

141,080

Our website remains a central point for community engagement. In FY20, the website received 141,080 hits.

Corporate Plan 2020–2023, p 50

64

The IGTO and our office consulted extensively with the broader community, including taxpayers, tax practitioners, and their representative bodies in conducting reviews and through its complaints handing service. The IGTO also consults with the Government and its agencies, including the ATO, TPB, ANAO, Commonwealth Ombudsman and Treasury.

Corporate Plan 2020–2023, p 51

The APSC Employee Census 2020 was postponed due to the impact of the COVID-19 pandemic.

IGTO staff survey

80% of staff consider that the Agency adequately supports them in undertaking their role; and

81% of staff have high satisfaction levels with their employment at IGTO.

The high satisfaction levels of our staff with their employment at our office is welcoming. It reflects our commitment to provide a workplace environment in which our team is supported, engaged and inspired to provide both service and outcomes to the community. We also moved swiftly to provide our staff with improved capability to work remotely to ensure their safety during the COVID-19 pandemic through our new cloud based ICT Platform.

We have a range of initiatives to support and reward our staff. This includes providing specialist learning and development opportunities as well as a rewards and recognition program.

Corporate Plan 2020–2023, p 51

Eligible IGTO staff (26) each attended on average 12.9 hours of specialist training in FY20.

The IGTO also supported 6 of its staff with postgraduate, professional course or long-term study in FY20.

We strongly support the development of our team and continue to enhance our capability through specialist learning and development opportunities. During FY20, our complaints service team attended on average 12.9 hours of specialist training. The training attended includes:

• complaints resolution and engaging in persuasive communication;
• leadership and coaching skills for managers;
• PID training for managers;
• Privacy and Freedom of Information; and
• Tax disputes.

Corporate Plan 2020–2023, p 51

Female staff — 41%

Born overseas — 48%

CALD — 63%

Our Office is a small specialised agency with national responsibility operating out of a single Sydney-office location. Our workforce is recruited based on merit and competence. In doing so, we are committed to workplace diversity, recognising gender, age and ethnicity. Our service delivery depends upon staff having specialised taxation law and policy skills and experience. Accordingly, it does face recruitment challenges and will seek to meet requirements, subject to market availability considerations.

The IGTO Gender Equality Action Plan has been designed in accordance with the document entitled ‘Balancing the Future: The Australian Public Service Gender Equality Strategy 2016–19’. Moving forward, the IGTO will work through gender equality initiatives as a business imperative.