In a speech to the Tax Institute today, ATO commissioner Rob Heferen said his organisation is currently owed some $50 billion in collectible debt.

“This debt is not disputed, most of it has been self-reported, and a significant portion is made up of amounts that have been withheld from employees’ wages, or collected from consumers as GST – but not passed on to government,” he said.

“While the majority of tax is paid on time – about 90 per cent – in dollar terms, there is a significant amount that isn’t.”

Heferen said collecting the $50 billion is a major focus for the ATO, and revealed there are 22,000 Australians in particular who can expect to hear from the tax office soon.

While they comprise just 1 per cent of the taxpayers who are in debt to the ATO, they owe a collective $11 billion – around 20 per cent of all outstanding funds owed to the ATO, and about $2.27 million each.

“It’s a significant priority for us,” Heferen said.

“We’re using every tool available to recover what’s owed from those 22,000 – using statutory demands for payment, wind-up processes, director penalty notices, garnishee notices, and departure prohibition orders.”

The $50 billion in outstanding debt is almost enough to cover Australia’s entire defence budget for a year, while the $11 billion is more than the federal government put towards its key election policies of boosting bulk billing under Medicare and extending energy bill rebates for six months combined.

Earlier in his speech, Heferen gave an update on tax returns for the 2024-25 financial year.

With about two months to go until the October 31 deadline, about a quarter of taxpayers had lodged their returns, and had been given a significant average refund.

“As of 24 August, we’ve had over 6.1 million tax returns lodged and have issued over 4.5 million refunds, totalling $12 billion – with an average refund of $2639,” he said.