Outcome-based metrics

The following table shows the metrics we use to assess our performance and their alignment across the measures for each KPI.

Metric	Description	Measure
1	Number of complaints received	1.2
2	Adjusted median cost to individual taxpayers of managing their tax affairs	1.3
3	Reduction in the administrative cost to businesses and government in dealing with each other	1.3
4	Proportion of inbound transactions received digitally for key services	1.2
5	Key digital systems availability	1.2
6	Service commitment – 85% of complaints received are resolved in 15 business days, or within the date negotiated with the client	2.2
7	Service commitment – 80% of private rulings are finalised in 28 calendar days of receiving all necessary information	2.2
8	Elapsed time in days for private rulings	2.1, 2.2
9	Average cycle times for objections	2.2
10	Cost to collect $100	3.1
11	Total revenue effects – Tax revenue from all compliance activities	3.1, 3.2, 3.3
12	Increased use of the ABR as the national business dataset	4.3
13	Proportion of ABN applicants obtaining a decision online at the point of application	4.2
14	Tax returns – Proportion of items that are pre-filled	4.2, 4.3
15	Communication of our decision to consult on matters submitted	6.1

Results – outcome-based metrics

Outcome metric 1

Metric	Result
	2016–17	2017–18	2018–19
Number of complaints received (no 2018–19 performance target)	25,073	20,241	19,826

In 2018–19, the ATO received 19,826 complaints (inclusive of Inspector-General of Taxation and Taxation Ombudsman complaints), a reduction of 2% compared to 2017–18. The number of complaints received is only a small proportion of our interactions with the community, representing 0.1% of the total tax returns lodged in 2018–19. The largest proportion of complaints received related to form processing, which includes flow-through impacts to speed of refunds.

Outcome metric 2

Metric	Result
	2016–17	2017–18	2018–19
Adjusted median cost to individual taxpayers of managing their tax affairs (2018–19 performance target: maintain or reduce the cost, relative to 2017–18)	1.0% reduction on prior year result (2015–16 returns)	Unchanged(1) on prior year result (2016–17 returns)	Unchanged(1) on prior year result (2017–18 returns)

Note 1: The unchanged results for 2017–18 and 2018–19 reflect a change of 0.2% or less in the adjusted median from the previous year.

This measure shows any movement in the cost to individual taxpayers of managing their tax affairs.

The adjusted(2) median cost of managing tax affairs for 2017–18(3) income tax returns remained broadly steady compared to the previous year (with only a marginal increase of 0.2%) and the performance target is considered to be fully met. Taxpayers who do not report an amount on this label are not captured in this calculation; however, over recent years a declining trend has emerged in the ratio of taxpayers claiming cost of managing tax affairs to the total individual taxpayer lodging population.

The cost of managing tax affairs includes the costs of preparing and lodging tax returns and activity statements, fees paid to tax advisers, and the costs of tax reference material. While the impact of external market forces can influence these, our strategies for making it easier to comply, through the provision of better guidance and advice and contemporary and digital services, also influence this trend.

For 2018–19 financial year reporting, data was extracted from each component and summed together to provide consistent results with previous years.

Note 2: AWOTE – average weekly ordinary time earnings (for full-time adults) is used to adjust these costs.
Note 3: The 2017–18 income tax return has split the D10 label into three components:  

• interest charged by the ATO
• litigation costs
• other expenses incurred in managing tax affairs.

Outcome metric 3

Metric	Result
	2016–17	2017–18	2018–19
Metric 3 – Reduction in the administrative cost to businesses and government in dealing with each other (2018–19 performance target: $1.55 billion)	$1.39 billion	$1.58 billion	$1.55 billion

In 2018–19, there was a slight decrease ($38 million) in the reduction of administrative costs, compared with the previous year. This brought the total annual reduction, relative to the costs of businesses using lodgment methods via previous systems, to $1.55 billion, which met the performance target. The small decline is primarily due to a refinement of the methodology compared with previous years, together with the higher-than-expected result in 2017–18.

The result indicates that savings to business and government from ABR program initiatives continue to deliver in reducing the reporting burden, minimising cost to business and enhancing business interactions through natural-based systems for the business community.

As new initiatives such as e-invoicing and Single Touch Payroll are implemented, savings are expected to increase further for both business and government.

Outcome metric 4

Metric	Result
	2016–17	2017–18	2018–19
Proportion of inbound transactions received digitally for key services (2018–19 performance target: 90%)	88%(4)	88%(4)	89%

Note 4: Result was published in the Commissioner of Taxation Annual Report but not in the ATO Regulator Performance Framework self-assessment report.

The scope of the measurement methodology was further broadened in 2018–19 to include ABN cancellations, role cancellations, Departing Australia Superannuation Payments (DASP) applications and Taxable Payment Annual Report (TPAR) lodgments.

The inclusion of:

• ABN and role cancellations provides an end-to-end view for business registrations and cancellations
• TPAR lodgments enables the establishment of a baseline for this service with additional industries commencing reporting from 1 July 2018
• the DASP superannuation view provides a digital channel usage perspective that may assist in future investment and service design decisions.

The ATO achieved an overall result of 89%, which is one percentage point below the target and represents a one percentage point increase compared with the previous year.

The digital take-up rates of the six original key services increased throughout 2018–19. Analysis of these original services indicates the 90% target would have been achieved if the additional services had had not been included. Taking this into consideration, together with the increase in the target over recent years (target for 2016–17 was 85%), the target has been substantially achieved.

Outcome metric 5

Metric	Result
	2016–17	2017–18	2018–19
Key digital systems availability (2018–19 performance target: under development)	n/a (5)	99.4%(6)	99.5%

Note 5: Metric not reported
Note 6: Result was published in the Commissioner of Taxation Annual Report but not in the ATO Regulator Performance Framework self-assessment report.

Measuring availability of our digital systems ensures that we understand the reliability of services for clients interacting digitally. The overall result for 2018–19 was 99.5%, a 0.1 percentage point increase from 2017–18. There is no performance target for 2018–19 against which to assess this result. A target of 99.5% has been set for 2019–20.

The methodology for this measure comprises the availability of six externally facing and four internally facing key IT systems. Availability is the comparison between the planned availability with the actual availability of a system for users.

For externally facing systems used by our clients and partners, the average availability was 99.3% and for internally facing systems used by staff, the average availability was 99.8%.

Outcome metric 6

Metric	Result
	2016–17	2017–18	2018–19
Service commitment – 85% of complaints received are resolved in 15 business days, or within the date negotiated with the client	93%	90%	88%

Complaint processing performance exceeded the benchmark of 85%, with 88% resolved in 15 business days (or within the date negotiated).

By maintaining our performance for this metric in 2018–19, we demonstrated that the ATO continues to provide taxpayers with timely assistance and certainty to enable them to meet their obligations.

Outcome metric 7

Metric	Result
	2016–17	2017–18	2018–19
Service commitment – 80% of private rulings are finalised in 28 calendar days of receiving all necessary information	85%	88%	88%

88% of private rulings were finalised in 28 calendar days of receiving all necessary information, exceeding the 80% target, and remaining stable compared with previous years’ results.

This demonstrates that the ATO continues to provide taxpayers with timely assistance and certainty on complex matters to enable them to meet their obligations.

Outcome metric 8 - Average days

Metric	Result
	2016–17	2017–18	2018–19
Elapsed time in days for private rulings	61	62	76

Outcome metric 8 - Median days

Metric	Result
	2016–17	2017–18	2018–19
Elapsed time in days for private rulings	36	39	52

There was an increase in both the average and median number of elapsed days to finalise a private ruling compared to 2017–18. The increasingly complex nature of private ruling applications continues to place upward pressure on the time taken to provide such rulings.

In addition, a number of substantially aged cases were closed throughout the year, which resulted in higher than usual averages. In 2018–19, 78 cases were closed with an elapsed time of greater than 365 days. If these outliers were removed from the overall population base, the average elapsed time would reduce to 69 days.

The impact on overall timeframes of requiring complex information from clients in order to complete such rulings can also be significant. Of the 78 cases noted above, only four were not completed within 28 days of receiving all necessary information from the client.

Outcome metric 9

Metric	Result
	2016–17	2017–18	2018–19
Average cycle times for objections (no 2018–19 performance target)	65 days	65 days	76 days

There was a 32% increase in the stock-on-hand of objections compared to 2017–18. Similarly, the average cycle times for objections increased by 17%, or 11 days. This is primarily attributable to an increase in the number of objections received. Although the increase was partially offset by an increase in the number of objections resolved, we received more objections than we resolved, leading to an increase in stock-on-hand and delays in the resolution of objections.

We have now taken steps to mitigate the rising stock and cycle times through the implementation of redesigned triage and prioritisation processes, and allocating additional resources in some branches. We are moving to measure cycle times by reference to priority and distinguish between objection types.

Outcome metric 10

Metric	Result
	2016–17(7)	2017–18(7)	2018–19
Cost to collect $100 (2018–19 performance target: consistent with trend)	$0.81 (incl GST) $0.74 (excl GST)	$0.74 (incl GST) $0.67 (excl GST)	$0.71 (incl GST) $0.64 (excl GST)

Note 7: In the ATO Regulator Performance Framework self-assessment reports for 2016–17 and 2017–18, results for this metric were expressed as ‘gross’ and ‘net’ cost to collect, rather than inclusive or exclusive of GST and its administration costs.

The decreased cost to collect $100 (both inclusive and exclusive of GST) met the performance target for 2018–19, largely due to the 8% increase in revenue collections in 2018–19.

Outcome metric 11

Metric	Result
	2016–17	2017–18	2018–19
Total revenue effects (tax revenue from all compliance activities (2018–19 performance target: $15 billion)	$15 billion(8)	$16 billion(8)	$15.3 billion

Note 8: Result was published in the Commissioner of Taxation Annual Report but not in the ATO Regulator Performance Framework self-assessment report.

Total revenue effects measures the impact our activities have on improving taxpayer compliance. These activities ultimately improve levels of willing participation with the tax and superannuation systems. By understanding and measuring the impact of our activities, it helps us to develop and improve effective strategies. Total revenue effects is an estimate of the additional tax revenue that comes from our client engagement activities and interventions.

The ATO is continuing to invest more effort and focus on supporting clients to get it right prior to lodging or even when they are first starting out in business. These are complemented by our deliberate efforts to improve future behaviour wherever we engage with clients. We estimate the impact of our pre-emptive strategies and of sustained compliance following our engagements in prior periods, known as wider revenue. In 2018–19, we estimated the impact of these interventions to be $4.8 billion. The total revenue effects for 2018–19 from all of our interventions totalled $15.3 billion.

Outcome metric 12

Metric	Result
	2016–17	2017–18	2018–19
Increased use of the ABR as the national business dataset: government agencies         community       (2018–19 performance target: Agencies – 340 using ABR Explorer, 12 using ABR Connect Community - 1.1 billion ABN Lookups)	232 agencies using ABR Explorer (66% increase)         32.5% increase in ABN Lookup searches	312 agencies using ABR Explorer (34% increase) 11 agencies using ABR Connect     1.031 billion ABN Lookup searches (32.5% increase)	368 agencies using ABR Explorer (18% increase) 17 agencies using ABR connect     1.445 billion ABN Lookup searches (40% increase)

Consumption of ABR data by government agencies and the community continues to increase through a variety of channels including ABR Explorer, ABR Connect, Data Transfer Facility and ABN Lookup. In 2018–19 the number of agencies using ABR Explorer increased by 18% to 368, while the number using ABR Connect web services increased from 11 to 17, both exceeding their target. ABN Lookup downloads exceeded 1.4 billion, a 40% increase from the previous year and exceeding target.

We supported the increased use of ABR data by continuing to develop products that promote self-service, and education materials to facilitate interactions with ABR Explorer. System enhancements also improved the quality of data queries for agencies.

The second generation of ABR Connect web services (ABR Agency Connect) is currently in a Beta version with three participating agencies. Two agencies have completed testing and have transitioned the service into their production environments, while the third agency plans to release the service later in 2019. We are also working with Digital Communication & Identity Services (DCIS) to incorporate a whole-of-government authentication solution for the service. Our ABR Connect web services lower costs for government agencies by reducing the need for multiple databases or registers that duplicate information.

Outcome metric 13

Metric	Result
	2016–17	2017–18	2018–19
Proportion of ABN applicants obtaining a decision online at the point of application (2018–19 performance target: 80%)	86.4%	94.6%	96.5%

The proportion of ABN applicants obtaining a decision online at the point of application increased to 96.5% for 2018–19, a 1.9 percentage point increase on last year (94.6%) and exceeding our target (80%) by 16.5 percentage points.

This measure demonstrates improvements in the process used by business in applying for an ABN, in particular a reduction in delays and the associated reduction in lost income arising from those delays.

There is a cost to both business and government as a result of delays in issuing ABNs:

• business can experience a loss of income, delays in being able to invoice clients for work done and loss of accessing business discounts
• government impacts can include lost taxation revenue and additional welfare payments while clients are waiting for their ABN to commence their business.

Changes to the ABN application process were implemented in March 2019. These changes were designed to assist applicants to understand their entitlement to an ABN and their obligations. This helps deter those applicants who are not entitled and reduces reverse workflow in cancelling these at a later point where they were not entitled to an ABN. These changes have increased the accuracy of data on the register, resulting in savings for businesses and government agencies that use this data. These changes did not materially impact applicants obtaining a decision online at the point of application as ineligible applicants are refused on-the-spot.

Outcome metric 14

Metric	Result
	2016–17	2017–18	2018–19
Tax returns - Proportion of items that are pre-filled (2018–19 performance target: under development)	n/a (9)	87.5%(10)	87.9%

Note 9: Metric not reported
Note 10: Result was published in the Commissioner of Taxation Annual Report but not in the ATO Regulator Performance Framework self-assessment report.

The presented result of 87.9% is a slight increase on last year’s result of 87.5%, indicating the continued quality and timeliness of pre-filling to support clients and tax agents to lodge their tax returns and meet their obligations.

The result is solely focused on individuals who are not in business. It reflects the proportion of their total income where our pre-filling exactly matched their final income tax result. This measure uses a dollar-based systems assurance approach, where pre-filling makes it easier for clients to meet their obligations and increases trust and confidence in the accuracy of final tax outcomes.

To allow for appropriate checking of our pre-fill results against the final income tax return, the methodology for this measure applies a time lag and reflects Tax Time 2017 results. This is to allow sufficient time for lodgment program periods for clients and tax agents to be completed and results assured by the ATO.

This measure was first reported in 2017–18, and there is not yet a performance target with which to assess the result. A performance target (of 85%) has been set for 2019–20.

Outcome metric 15

Metric	Result
	2016–17	2017–18	2018–19
Communication of our decision to consult on matters submitted (within 20 days)	1 (20% of 5 received)	0 (0% of 2 received)	1 (100% of 1 received)

In 2018–19 there was one matter received that was considered a potential consultation matter, and a decision was communicated within 20 working days. The matter did not proceed to consultation. While we only have a small number of matters for potential consultation each year, this result represents an improvement compared with the previous two years, and reflects our continued focus on ensuring more timely responses to relevant stakeholders.