A parliamentary question addresses data mismatches in the Office of State Revenue's land tax and metropolitan region improvement tax management, following an Auditor General's report. The response indicates no specific acceptable level of mismatches was requested, citing ongoing efforts to improve data compatibility.

AnsweredQoN 673Legislative Council
Asked
30 August 2007
Portfolio
parliamentary secretary representing the Treasurer

QuestionView source ↗

LAND TAX AND METROPOLITAN REGION IMPROVEMENT TAX - AUDITOR GENERAL’S REPORT
I refer to the Auditor General’s “Third Public Sector Performance Audit 2007” as it refers to the management of land tax and metropolitan region improvement tax, and ask - (1) Has the Office of State Revenue been asked for a judgement on what constitutes an acceptable level of data mismatches or variances arising from the monthly update of the revenue collections information system database? (2) If so, what is that level? (3) If not, why not? Hon KATE DOUST

AnswerView source ↗

I thank the member for some notice of this question. (1) No request as to what constitutes an acceptable level of data mismatches or variances was made to the Office of State Revenue by the Office of the Auditor General. (2) Not applicable. (3) While specific clarification was not sought by the Office of the Auditor General as to an acceptable level of data mismatches, it was explained by the Office of State Revenue that it will not ever be possible to have a complete matching of data at any point in time because of matters such as timing issues of data supply, and the ability for persons to gain exemptions following the issue of assessments. While efforts are ongoing to reduce current mismatches, until issues are worked through as part of work being undertaken to address system and data format compatibility problems, it will be difficult to reach a conclusive view as to how much further improvement can be made in a cost-effective manner, and what should be the appropriate performance benchmarks.
(1) Has the Office of State Revenue been asked for a judgement on what constitutes an acceptable level of data mismatches or variances arising from the monthly update of the revenue collections information system database? (2) If so, what is that level? (3) If not, why not? Hon KATE DOUST replied: I thank the member for some notice of this question. (1) No request as to what constitutes an acceptable level of data mismatches or variances was made to the Office of State Revenue by the Office of the Auditor General. (2) Not applicable. (3) While specific clarification was not sought by the Office of the Auditor General as to an acceptable level of data mismatches, it was explained by the Office of State Revenue that it will not ever be possible to have a complete matching of data at any point in time because of matters such as timing issues of data supply, and the ability for persons to gain exemptions following the issue of assessments. While efforts are ongoing to reduce current mismatches, until issues are worked through as part of work being undertaken to address system and data format compatibility problems, it will be difficult to reach a conclusive view as to how much further improvement can be made in a cost-effective manner, and what should be the appropriate performance benchmarks.
(2) If so, what is that level? (3) If not, why not? Hon KATE DOUST replied: I thank the member for some notice of this question. (1) No request as to what constitutes an acceptable level of data mismatches or variances was made to the Office of State Revenue by the Office of the Auditor General. (2) Not applicable. (3) While specific clarification was not sought by the Office of the Auditor General as to an acceptable level of data mismatches, it was explained by the Office of State Revenue that it will not ever be possible to have a complete matching of data at any point in time because of matters such as timing issues of data supply, and the ability for persons to gain exemptions following the issue of assessments. While efforts are ongoing to reduce current mismatches, until issues are worked through as part of work being undertaken to address system and data format compatibility problems, it will be difficult to reach a conclusive view as to how much further improvement can be made in a cost-effective manner, and what should be the appropriate performance benchmarks.
(3) If not, why not? Hon KATE DOUST replied: I thank the member for some notice of this question. (1) No request as to what constitutes an acceptable level of data mismatches or variances was made to the Office of State Revenue by the Office of the Auditor General. (2) Not applicable. (3) While specific clarification was not sought by the Office of the Auditor General as to an acceptable level of data mismatches, it was explained by the Office of State Revenue that it will not ever be possible to have a complete matching of data at any point in time because of matters such as timing issues of data supply, and the ability for persons to gain exemptions following the issue of assessments. While efforts are ongoing to reduce current mismatches, until issues are worked through as part of work being undertaken to address system and data format compatibility problems, it will be difficult to reach a conclusive view as to how much further improvement can be made in a cost-effective manner, and what should be the appropriate performance benchmarks.
Hon KATE DOUST replied: I thank the member for some notice of this question. (1) No request as to what constitutes an acceptable level of data mismatches or variances was made to the Office of State Revenue by the Office of the Auditor General. (2) Not applicable. (3) While specific clarification was not sought by the Office of the Auditor General as to an acceptable level of data mismatches, it was explained by the Office of State Revenue that it will not ever be possible to have a complete matching of data at any point in time because of matters such as timing issues of data supply, and the ability for persons to gain exemptions following the issue of assessments. While efforts are ongoing to reduce current mismatches, until issues are worked through as part of work being undertaken to address system and data format compatibility problems, it will be difficult to reach a conclusive view as to how much further improvement can be made in a cost-effective manner, and what should be the appropriate performance benchmarks.
I thank the member for some notice of this question. (1) No request as to what constitutes an acceptable level of data mismatches or variances was made to the Office of State Revenue by the Office of the Auditor General. (2) Not applicable. (3) While specific clarification was not sought by the Office of the Auditor General as to an acceptable level of data mismatches, it was explained by the Office of State Revenue that it will not ever be possible to have a complete matching of data at any point in time because of matters such as timing issues of data supply, and the ability for persons to gain exemptions following the issue of assessments. While efforts are ongoing to reduce current mismatches, until issues are worked through as part of work being undertaken to address system and data format compatibility problems, it will be difficult to reach a conclusive view as to how much further improvement can be made in a cost-effective manner, and what should be the appropriate performance benchmarks.
(1) No request as to what constitutes an acceptable level of data mismatches or variances was made to the Office of State Revenue by the Office of the Auditor General. (2) Not applicable. (3) While specific clarification was not sought by the Office of the Auditor General as to an acceptable level of data mismatches, it was explained by the Office of State Revenue that it will not ever be possible to have a complete matching of data at any point in time because of matters such as timing issues of data supply, and the ability for persons to gain exemptions following the issue of assessments. While efforts are ongoing to reduce current mismatches, until issues are worked through as part of work being undertaken to address system and data format compatibility problems, it will be difficult to reach a conclusive view as to how much further improvement can be made in a cost-effective manner, and what should be the appropriate performance benchmarks.
(2) Not applicable. (3) While specific clarification was not sought by the Office of the Auditor General as to an acceptable level of data mismatches, it was explained by the Office of State Revenue that it will not ever be possible to have a complete matching of data at any point in time because of matters such as timing issues of data supply, and the ability for persons to gain exemptions following the issue of assessments. While efforts are ongoing to reduce current mismatches, until issues are worked through as part of work being undertaken to address system and data format compatibility problems, it will be difficult to reach a conclusive view as to how much further improvement can be made in a cost-effective manner, and what should be the appropriate performance benchmarks.
(3) While specific clarification was not sought by the Office of the Auditor General as to an acceptable level of data mismatches, it was explained by the Office of State Revenue that it will not ever be possible to have a complete matching of data at any point in time because of matters such as timing issues of data supply, and the ability for persons to gain exemptions following the issue of assessments. While efforts are ongoing to reduce current mismatches, until issues are worked through as part of work being undertaken to address system and data format compatibility problems, it will be difficult to reach a conclusive view as to how much further improvement can be made in a cost-effective manner, and what should be the appropriate performance benchmarks.

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