‘Psychologically unsettling’: ATO pursuing more taxpayers for decades-old debt

The tax commissioner wants the ATO to do more to recoup $50bn in outstanding debt, which he has described as mostly self-reported by taxpayers. Photograph: Lukas Coch/AAP

The Australian Taxation Office is pursuing a new batch of taxpayers over decades-old debts, drawing comparisons to its widely criticised and suspended “robotax” initiative.

One taxpayer was recently pursued over a supposed debt of a few thousand dollars from 2006, which only appeared on his online tax portal this year, and was followed up by several phone calls demanding payment.