Since the ATO’s loss in the court case called Multiflex Pty Ltd in late 2011, the Federal Government has tried to push through some tax legislation which will allow the ATO to keep GST refunds for a period of 90 days (and in some cases even longer than that) for “refund verification checks”.
The Institute of Chartered Accountants, and other professional bodies have sought to amend the legislation by suggesting that a 30 day time period was a more appropriate time frame than 90 days for their “checking”.