The Commissioner of Taxation's 2009-10 Annual Report, for the financial year ended 30 June, 2010 (the 89th Report), has reported net cash collections of $253.2 billion which, while 4.3% lower than for 2008-2009, represented a $910 million increase in revenue collections over those initially forecast in the 2009-2010 budget. This was 0.4% above the 2009 budget forecast and 0.1% below the revised estimate from the 2010-2011 budget.

The Annual Report also states that $9.3 billion in extra tax, penalties and interest was raised during the 2009-2010 year. The report also notes that there were 1.75 million debt cases finalised.

Other highlights from the report include:

• Objections, disputes and reviews: In 2009-2010, the ATO completed 19,349 objections, disputes and reviews, which was an increase of 27.9% from 2008-2009. The report said the Tax Office also achieved 68% (within 28 days) for private ruling reviews and 59% (within 56 days) for objections, disputes and other reviews. The Tax Office said it did not meet its benchmarks of 85% of private ruling reviews, and 70% of objections. It said it missed this service standard because of a substantial increase (4,225, or 28%) in objections, disputes and reviews over 2008-2009 levels. The main cause of the increase was the processing, as objections, of a large number of "out-of-time" requests for amendment to income tax assessments by taxpayers who made an error.
• Serious evasion and fraud: In 2009-2010, the ATO continued its focus on serious evasion and fraud work. The Tax Office said this work is project-based with significant cross-agency involvement. Activities included 117 investigations and 57 briefs of evidence provided to the Commonwealth Director of Public Prosecutions (CDPP), including 11 briefs arising from joint agency investigations, and 13 briefs relating to TAA offences.
• Prosecutions: In 2009-2010, the ATO said 2,578 people or entities were successfully prosecuted for 2,855 breaches of the law. Of these, 2,530 related mainly to non-lodgment and failing to provide information, where the ATO handled 2,486 of these prosecutions. In addition, the CDPP successfully prosecuted 44 of these types of cases.
• Settlements: In 2009-2010, the ATO registered 621 settlements: 306 involved micro-enterprises; 211 for individuals; 69 for SMEs; and 24 for large businesses. The pre-settlement positions sought $1,643 million, while the actual settlements achieved totalled $1,095 million.