Taxman ‘tried to silence critic’

The ATO demanded a whistleblower try to stop media coverage as part of a proposed settlement, parliament has heard.

Ron Shamir claimed the ATO was wrongly tagging some claims as fraudulent.

The Australian Taxation Office demanded a whistleblower actively try to stop media coverage of his case as part of a proposed $360,000 settlement, parliament has been told.

However, the whistleblower, Ron Shamir, who claims he was forced out of the ATO after raising concerns about the way it was handling GST claims, rejected the settlement offer.

Shamir’s concerns, which he first raised in mid-2012, included claims the ATO was wrongly tagging some claims as fraudulent.

He was also worried that the ATO’s treatment of some fraudulent GST claims effectively chalked them up as fresh revenue.

The case highlights the treatment of whistleblowers in Australia, which critics say leaves them exposed to retribution by powerful and well-resourced organisations.

In May 2015, after raising his concerns with the Inspector-General of Taxation, Mr Shamir was dismissed by the ATO.

He initially succeeded in an unfair dismissal claim, but last year the full bench of the Fair Work Commission overturned the decision.

An ATO spokeswoman said all its settlements were “conducted in accordance with the requirements of the Attorney-General’s Legal Services Directions”.

“Mr Shamir’s role changed from profiler to auditor following an internal restructure and the ATO made every effort over two years to accommodate his preferences and development needs,” she said.

“All other claims and complaints made by Mr Shamir have been considered, investigated and found to lack substance and Mr Shamir has been advised of the outcomes.”

However, Mr Shamir’s case has been taken up by the Greens, with Tasmanian Senator Peter Whish-Wilson saying Mr Shamir had “encountered unfair and crippling barriers to employment since making a disclosure to the IGT”.

Senator Whish-Wilson has also written to Finance Minister Mathias Cormann, asking him to provide Mr Shamir with a reference and ask the ATO to cover his legal costs.

Mr Shamir’s concerns about the way the ATO was treating GST followed a court decision in late 2011 that meant the agency had less time to check $9bn a year in claims.

“In mid-2012, while doing his job very competently and diligently, Mr Shamir detected a number of unusual ATO operations that resulted in large numbers of GST refund claims being cancelled by the ATO in a relatively short period of time, based on a premise that ‘ID Takeover’ had occurred, which due to the nature of his intelligence analysis role, Mr Shamir knew to be an incorrect premise for the refund cancellations,” Senator Whish-Wilson told the Senate.

Mr Shamir came to the conclusion that “intentional shortcuts” were being taken that interfered with the rights of legitimate taxpayers, Senator Whish-Wilson said.

Mr Shamir raised his concerns internally, and in November 2012 was assured by an assistant commissioner that the practice had been stopped. However, three months later he was moved to an audit role.