In March 2023, we conducted a survey with the Top 500 population and their advisors to better understand the perspectives of the private groups covered by the Top 500 program. We wanted to hear directly about our clients' experiences with the program and how we might improve our service and interactions with them. For an overview of the survey feedback, see Top 500 client survey summary – March 2023.
The feedback from participants indicated that clients:
- have been regularly treated in a professional, courteous and respectful manner during their interactions with the ATO
- have identified that discussing issues with the ATO helps to resolve them
- believe that the ATO has a better understanding of their individual circumstance than in previous years
- have an increased understanding of how effective tax governance supports them to meet their tax obligations.
As with 2022 results, feedback also indicates that:
- participation in the Top 500 program can be time consuming and costly
- we need to be mindful about regularity of communication provided about the progress of the engagement
- requests for information should be more tailored to the business or income producing activities.
We continue to look at ways to improve our processes and interactions to enhance the client experience. In response to the 2022 survey feedback, we implemented the following changes:
- differentiated approaches to Top 500 clients who predominantly derive income from passive activities and those that buy and sell trading stock with minimal value add
- streamlining assurance of tax issues for groups that have used independently audited financial statements in the preparation of their tax returns
- publishing practical tax governance guidance on our website to enable and empower clients to assess and improve their tax governance frameworks – to reduce the costs associated with implementing effective tax governance.