Senator the Hon Mathias Cormann

The Inspector-General of Taxation today releases two reports:

• Follow Up Review into Delayed or Changed Australian Taxation Office Views on Significant Issues ('U-turns' review); and
• Follow Up Review into the Australian Taxation Office's Implementation of Agreed Recommendations in Five Reports Released Between August 2009 and November 2010.

The Follow Up Review into Delayed or Changed Australian Taxation Office Views on Significant Issues ('U-turns' review) looks at the Australian Taxation Office's implementation of recommendations made in the original report of March 2010.

The original report looked into claims of Australian Taxation Office 'U-turns' and made recommendations to reduce the adverse impacts on taxpayers.

The term 'U-turns' is commonly used to refer to situations where the Australian Taxation Office retrospectively applies its changed views on significant interpretative matters or administrative practices.

The Inspector-General found that the Australian Taxation Office has fully implemented three of the four administrative recommendations, while the fourth has been partially implemented.

Two additional recommendations were made to ensure that the Australian Taxation Office properly implements a holistic approach to managing 'U-turns'. The Australian Taxation Office has agreed to implement these additional recommendations.

The Follow Up Review into the Australian Taxation Office's Implementation of Agreed Recommendations in Five Reports Released Between August 2009 and November 2010 looks at the Australian Taxation Office's implementation of agreed recommendations made in five separate reports released between August 2009 and November 2010.

The Inspector-General found that all recommendations had been actioned, were being actioned or will be addressed in later IGT reviews.

A copy of these reports can be found at: www.igt.gov.au.