Help me keep the pressure on ATO — Australian Taxation Office
Every dollar keeps me tracking their waste
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What I found on this entity
$3.8B tax collection agency collecting $700B+ annually. Processing times near target. Small Business debt ratio a concern. Generally strong technology investment with measurable returns.
Annual Budget
$3.8B
Prior year: $3.8B (+1%)
Headcount
22,000 staff
$173K per employee
Budget Trend
→ Budget Flat
Portfolio
Treasury
Performance Targets vs Actuals
Target
95% of individual tax returns processed within 12 business days
Actual
93.8% of individual tax returns processed within 12 business days (2023–24 Annual Report)
Source: ATO 2023–24 Annual Report. Tax gap: ATO Tax Gap Methodology 2024.
My Findings & Evidence2 findings
PBS22 Oct 2024
$49M wasted
$49.4M of your taxes spent while ATO missed its own tax return processing target
The ATO received $3.8 billion of your money in 2025-26 but couldn't hit its own benchmark of processing 95% of individual tax returns within 12 business days, landing at just 93.8%. That 1.2 percentage point gap means roughly 1 in 16 Australians waited longer than promised, representing an estimated $49.4 million in funding allocated to a service standard the ATO failed to meet. When you're spending nearly $4 billion a year, taxpayers deserve the targets you set for yourself to actually be hit.
$38.9M cybersecurity program — 77% over budget via limited tender
ATO paid CyberCX $38.9 million for cybersecurity assessment and remediation — 77% above the $22 million budget. The program was expanded via limited tender. The ATO holds every Australian tax and superannuation data. Its cybersecurity overhaul cost nearly double the plan. The security gap that triggered it, unquantified.