1) If you are an independent student, which of the below criterion mean that you are not eligible for the Education Tax Refund (ETR)? *
You are an Australian resident
You receive Youth Allowance payments
You are 28 years of age
You are enrolled in TAFE doing secondary school study
None of the above
2) If you were a graduate in the Tax Office in the 07/08 financial year, earnt $49,875 and had no allowable deductions how much income tax would you expect to have paid? (You were a resident for the entire financial year therefore are expected to pay the Medicare levy and you have no HECS debt) * $9562.50
$10,310.62
$10,804.37
$14,662.50
None of the above
3) As of 1 July 2007 what is the maximum super co-contribution amount? * $1,000
$1,500
Any amount
None of the above
4) The next two questions relate to a recent Commissioners update called Working together to combat tax haven abuse. In this update the Commissioner mentioned a high profile case known as Wickenby and the tax force created as a result of this case. How much extra revenue has been collect in subsequent years subject to action taken by the taskforce? * $265 million
$250 million
$84 million
$74 million
$75 million
5) The offshore Voluntary Disclosure initiative is designed to encourage people to come clean regarding their involvement with tax havens and: * The tax office will disregard any previous tax haven dealings from that point
Pay up any outstanding tax liabilities and no penalties will be imposed
They will receive a substantial reduction in penalties if they come clean any time during the audit
They will receive a substantial reduction in penalties if they voluntarily disclose before they are the subject of an audit
6) The Tax Office expends considerable effort pursuing compliance issues as this is one of the ways to deter others from deliberate non-compliance. In the 2006/2007 financial year what percentage of cases brought before the court ended up in a custodial sentence? (to the nearest whole percent) * 59%
53%
60%
62%
The next three questions relate to the speech Sustaining good practice tax administration by Michael D'Ascenzo, Commissioner of Taxation, to the Australasian Tax Teachers Association Conference, Christchurch, New Zealand 20 January 2009
7) Of the tax collected by the Tax Office roughly what ratio is returned to the taxpayer? *
$1 in $8
$1 in $15
$1 in $3
$1 in $5
8) Which of the following elements were identified in the recent OECD report (3rd edition) as being indicative of good practice in Tax administration? * use of the executive agency model that delivers both direct and indirect taxes
the practice of setting formal service delivery standards whether published or not to aid accountability and transparency
that the ratio of unpaid taxes (year end tax debt) to net revenue collected for tax bodies should be high
withholding at source is ineffective in a tax revenue system
Questions 9 to 11 are multi response questions. If an incorrect response is chosen then you will be penalised for that response. Please choose the two correct responses for each questions below.
9) Who does the Commissioner mention in his speech as being external scrutineers of the Tax Office? *The Department of Treasury
Australian National Audit Office
The Minister of Finance
Joint Committee of Public Accounts and Audit
10) The Tax Office Change Program is the biggest IT change that has been implemented since the introduction of computers. What are the key factors that have been taken into account in setting the release 3 schedule?
*We complete our design work and then look to decide on deployment dates
We take our lead for other organisations that have done similar implementations
That we continue to avoid major change during our busy lodgment time
The timeline must be adhered to
11) If you have a tax debt and are having trouble paying it what are some of the things the Tax Office is committed to if you cannot pay on time? *Penalise you as much as they can to raise as much revenue as possible
Be fair and equitable in the application of the law, processes and policy
Assist you where possible if you are attempting to engage with the Tax Office and do the right thing
Garnish your salary until the debt is paid