What authority do the external collection agencies have to negotiate payment arrangements?
The Tax Office has provided the external collection agencies with authorisation to determine requests for payments in full or by arrangement in respect to amount and time to cover the majority of cases referred. There may be limited circumstances where the agencies will not be able to negotiate a payment arrangement due to delegation limitations. In these circumstances we have processes in place to refer the cases to the Tax Office for further action. The external collection agencies are not required to accept payment proposals as a matter of course. They are authorised by the Tax Office to make a decision to refuse a payment arrangement if it is not considered sustainable and suitable for both the Tax Office and the taxpayer. The refusal decision and the reasons for that decision will be verbally advised to the taxpayer or their representative at the time of the discussion together with their review rights.
