Australian Small Business and Family Enterprise Ombudsman, Kate Carnell, claims that the Australian Taxation Office (ATO) is using “excessive” debt recovery strategies against some small businesses at the same time that it is engaged in disputes with them at the Administrative Appeals Tribunal.

For example, Carnell notes that upwards of 12 per cent of small businesses that have taken the ATO to the Administrative Appeals Tribunal have had garnishee notices issued against them during the appeal process, these notices can destroy the business and leave its staff out of work.

Carnell calls for change in the way ATO officials engage with “time-poor” small business operators, and for the ATO’s debt recovery procedures to be “proportionate, fair and consistent”.