Fed: Stop tax reform 'til we can catch our breath: accountants

AAP General News (Australia)
08-22-2001
Fed: Stop tax reform 'til we can catch our breath: accountants

CANBERRA, Aug 22 AAP - There should be no more tax reform until taxpayers and their
advisers absorb the massive changes already introduced, a leading accounting body said
today.

Taxpayers and advisers were still struggling with the paperwork burden brought on by
the new measures, the Institute of Chartered Accountants in Australia (ICAA) said.

"Tax reform was meant to make things simpler. It hasn't," ICAA chief executive Stephen
Harrison said.

Tax accountants still could not meet the extended BAS and IAS deadlines more than one
year into the new system and were now being deluged by personal income tax returns, he
said.

"It might look like a bonanza, but two-thirds of our small practice members expect
their profits to fall because they cannot pass on all the increased administrative costs
and more than 70 per cent are not meeting the extended Tax Office deadlines."

The pressing need for further tax reform was now in jeopardy because small businesses
and their advisers could not cope with the massive amount of paperwork that accompanied
the new tax system, Mr Harrison said.

"We are worried that more reform will add to a burden that is already overwhelming," he said.

"Accountants are telling us the obvious: unless the underlying legislative process
is changed, and the community has confidence in the process, further tax reform measures
will be seen as more bureaucratic red tape and rejected."

AAP jph/daw/hu/de

KEYWORD: TAX ICAA

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