Ignored messages, delays causing major frustration with OSfA: The Tax Institute
What happened
“Currently, a taxpayer can only appoint one tax agent for each of corporate tax, fringe benefits tax and goods and services tax,“ it said. “The ATO’s systems and frontline processes do not consistently recognise these separate authorisations. This matters for Professional Services & HR because contracting activity changes leverage, market appetite, and which clauses buyers can credibly trade even without clean benchmark data; Rate caps is now more valuable
Buyer takeaway
For Professional Services & HR, the buyer read-through is commercial leverage: scope, validity windows, reopeners, and term structure may now matter as much as headline pricing
Cost / money
The money issue may come through term structure rather than base price alone, especially if suppliers push for escalation language, shorter validity, or broader pass-through
Supplier / commercial
This is primarily a contracting story: revisit scope boundaries, extension mechanics, and which party carries volatility before those assumptions harden in a live tender
Safety / operations
The main operations question is whether the contract still matches field reality. If scope, response times, or liabilities are vague, the risk usually shows up during execution
What to watch
Watch scope creep, liability pushback, and term changes that move volatility back onto the buyer even if the base rate looks manageable
Key facts
- “Currently, a taxpayer can only appoint one tax agent for each of corporate tax, fringe benef
- “The ATO’s systems and frontline processes do not consistently recognise these separate autho
- “The updated layout is complex and significantly increases the difficulty of reconciling clie
- The new display lists each business activity statement (BAS) item separately without showing