Increased ATO funding to counter fraud (May 2024 Federal Budget Update)

Published on 15 May 2024 by Drew Pflaum
Categories: Accounting, News

The Government will provide $187.0 million over four years from 1 July 2024 to the ATO to strengthen its ability to detect, prevent and mitigate fraud against the tax and superannuation systems. Measures to be funded includes:

• upgrades to information and communications technologies to enable the ATO to identify and block suspicious activity in real time;
• a new compliance taskforce to recover lost revenue and intervene when attempts to obtain fraudulent refunds are made;
• improvements to the ATO’s management and governance of its counter-fraud activities, including improving how the ATO assists individuals harmed by fraud.

The Government will also provide $0.4 million over four years from 1 July 2024 to the Department of Finance to undertake a Gateway Review process over the life of the proposal to ensure independent assurance, oversight and delivery of the measure.