IRC launched new look of Debt and lodgement letter

The Internal Revenue Commission [IRC] launched its redesigned Tax Correspondence Letter to enhance communication clarity and effectiveness with taxpayers, tax agents, and tax professionals.

The launch this morning is a step towards IRC's vision to become a robust tax administrator for individuals and businesses.

This is a commitment to ensure they communicate clearly to ensure taxpayers and tax agents understand their obligations and the consequences of non-compliance.

Commissioner Sam Koim said: “These new letters convey the same messages and have the same demands as the old letters meaning the content is not new, the look and feel is.

“These new letters are an important change that will benefit everyone and I would like to thank the ATO for supporting this important work.

“This is yet another project where we have collaborated with the ATO to complete an important piece of work for the IRC.”

“They need to take notice of the requirements in the letters and take action accordingly,” Mr Koim said.

 He said what started as 54 debt and lodgement templates has now been converted to around 33 templates.

“We were able to reduce the number of templates by using a range of variables. So instead of having 4 Lodgement Demand templates with due dates of 7, 14, 21, or 28 days, we now have one “Lodgement Demand” template.

“Our taxpayers and tax agents won’t see the smarts in the back end behind the scenes- but it certainly streamlines the IRC staff experience- and has significantly tidied up the debt and lodgement letter suite.

“We are using green-themed letters for general or positive correspondence, orange-themed letters for early collections correspondence, and red-themed letters for firmer action correspondence,” Mr Koim added.