What is a dispute?
A dispute occurs when you disagree with a decision you believe we are likely to make, or a decision we have made. If we have:
- not yet made the decision, you may be able to use one of our dispute resolution options, where we’ll work with you to understand your circumstances and try to resolve issues early
- already made the decision, you may need to lodge an objection. You can also use our dispute resolution options alongside an objection.
You may wish to engage a registered tax professional to discuss the best option for you. If you can't afford professional advice or representation, you may be able to use the National Tax Clinic program.
Resolving your dispute
You may be able to use one of our dispute resolution options, such as in-house facilitation (also known as mediation) or independent review, to resolve your dispute early.
These options are an opportunity for:
- you or your representative to discuss your concerns with us
- us to explain our understanding of your situation and our likely response
- you to consider our view and respond, including providing more information to see if we can reach a different decision.
By working with us to resolve your dispute early, you may be able to avoid an objection, which is a more formal process.
Find out more about disputing an ATO decision.
Example: Using in-house facilitation to resolve an issue early
Alicia disagrees with a decision that was made during an audit. She gives her case officer more information to explain why she disagrees, but feels he doesn’t understand her perspective. Alicia asks to use in-house facilitation and the case officer agrees.
We appoint an accredited and impartial ATO facilitator with no previous involvement in the matter. The facilitator guides a discussion between the case officer and Alicia, so they can see each other’s views.
The case officer considers the additional information again and comes to a new decision, which resolves Alicia’s dispute, saving both parties time and money.
End of exampleLodging an objection
You can lodge an objection if you think we've made the wrong decision. This may be because you:
- disagree with the way we’ve interpreted the law
- think we have not taken some relevant information into account (even if this is because of a mistake on your part).
You must lodge an objection in writing within the time limit. Find out more about objecting to a decision.
If you want to correct or fix a mistake, amend your tax return instead of lodging an objection.
Example: Lodging an objection to substantiate a claim
Claudia claims a deduction for car expenses on her tax return. During an audit, we disallow the deduction as she can’t find the records to prove her claim.
When cleaning her garage a few months later, Claudia comes across the records. Realising these records substantiate her claim, she lodges an objection to have the audit decision reviewed.
End of exampleSupport for those with exceptional circumstances
If your personal circumstances will make it hard for you to work through the objections process, you may be able to request help through Dispute Assist.
Dispute Assist is a free service that helps vulnerable individuals and small businesses, who are unrepresented and experiencing significant or exceptional circumstances, with their objection.
How a dispute or objection affects your debt
If you receive a tax bill, you need to pay in full and on time to avoid interest charges. Interest is accrued daily once payment is overdue and will be applied to amounts that remain unpaid.
Disputing or objecting to one of our decisions will generally not change your due date. However, we usually don’t take recovery action to collect a disputed debt until after the dispute or objection is finalised.
If you are a large business, we expect that you will pay 50% of your debt or pay it in full. You may request to enter into an arrangement with us to pay 50% of the debt in dispute – known as a '50:50' arrangement. It works like this:
- you pay any undisputed debt and 50% of the primary debt in dispute up front, and agree to provide any information needed to resolve the dispute
- we will defer recovery action and remit 50% of the ongoing general interest charge that accrues on the unpaid balance of the disputed debt while the dispute is in progress.
Find out more about seeking 50:50 arrangements at Seeking a deferral or 50:50 arrangement and PS LA 2011/4 Collection and recovery of disputed debts.
If the outcome of a dispute or objection reduces your debt to less than the amount you have already paid, we'll pay what we owe you.