In-house GST advisers 'underpaid and undervalued': survey

In-house good and services tax (GST) advisers in Australia believe they are underpaid and that their role is undervalued, according to a survey conducted by Deloitte with the support of the Corporate Tax Association (CTA) at the CTA annual ‘GST Big Day & A Half Out’ in October 2006.

The investigation into the role of the Australian in-house GST adviser, in which 80 advisers participated, found that half of those surveyed were of the view that their peers in in-house income tax roles were more highly paid than those in GST advisory.

Sixty per cent said they believed that their organisation’s chief financial officer (CFO) considers GST to be either not very important, of little importance or of no importance to the organisation’s business today.

On the other hand, the vast majority – 86 per cent – perceived that their head of tax considered GST to be either very important or important.

Participants were also quizzed on their relationship with the Australian Taxation Office (ATO). Although channels of communication appear to be good, 70 per cent of the respondents considered the ATO’s general stance on GST to be ‘too aggressive’ or ‘aggressive’. Fifty per cent were of the view that the ATO rarely or never focuses on the right areas of the business with regard to GST compliance.

Half agreed with the view expressed by the ATO in its 2006-07 compliance program that some large businesses have failed to keep up-to-date their internal corporate governance processes and systems for GST.

Looking into the future, there was a significant discrepancy between what people thought they should focus on in the next two years, compared to what they thought they will end up focusing on. Forty four per cent of the respondents were of the view that system and process improvement should be the focus, but only 28 per cent thought that this would be the case, with compliance and risk being the anticipated focus.

Almost half of the audience believed GST ‘risk’ to be higher for their business than income tax, while more than half believed there to be less GST ‘planning opportunities’ than income tax planning opportunities.

While the 80 advisers who participated in the survey were thought to represent more than 50 per cent of the current in-house GST advisers in Australia (excluding the profession), it was acknowledged by Deloitte that the sample group is a small population and the results should be treated accordingly.

For further information, view the survey results from the Deloitte website.