AUSTRALIA - Customs to Miss GST Deadline by 3 Months Due to Computer Problems

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Tuesday, 9 May, 2000

Title: Customs to miss GST deadline by three months

By VERONA BURGESS, Public Service Reporter

The Australian Customs Service will be three months late getting ready for the GST because of computer outsourcing problems.

Customs officers have admitted there is a "significant" problem with its new system for handling the estimated $12-13 billion GST liability on imports.

The system, outsourced to computer firm EDS, will be unable to process some 8000 claims for goods-and-services tax refunds after July 1.

The setback comes after a year's delay to another Customs system outsourced to EDS, the Passenger Analysis Clearance and Evaluation system, known as PACE.

Chief executive Lionel Woodward has told the Senate Legal and Constitutional Legislation committee there have been some delays in other EDS contracts but not of the magnitude of PACE.

He said Customs would employ whatever means it had to process the claims for GST refunds manually in order to reach its customer-service standard.

The committee heard the new system for handling the GST would not be completely ready until three months after the tax was introduced on July 1. Mr Woodward said the affected claims would be those in which the importer or their agents had made an error in their entry documentation in the first place, which was in about 8000 cases out of several million.

"Our primary expectation was that whatever systems we needed would be designed, developed and tested and able to be put in place by 1 July. But, as I have said, in one particular area we have agreed with EDS and industry is aware of it that we cannot develop those systems by 1 July."

Mr Woodward said that in terms of numbers of transactions, the problem was "very small".

Labor Senator Nick Bolkus said it might be small in terms of the overall $13 billion but there must be quite a few cases. Mr Woodward agreed it was a significant problem for the people involved.

Officers told the committee the problem could not be corrected just by putting extra resources into it.

Deputy chief executive John Jeffrey said imposing the extra demand on the system before it was properly tested could jeopardise the entire system.

http://www.canberratimes.com.au/news2/news6.shtml

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-- (Dee360Degree@aol.com), May 08, 2000

Answers

This is one of the biggest stries on foreign trade we've seen yet, Dee. This is the biggest story of the day.

I keep looking for stories which contain the information--late, due to technical problems. There are a lot of them, but just about all get just casual mention. You almost have to look through a magnifying glass to find these mentions, buried in, sometimes, long reports.

This is one story, at least, that jumps out at you.

-- Uncle Fred (dogboy45@bigfoot.com), May 08, 2000.


Uncle Fred,

Good point. It jumped out so much I thought I had read it wrong. LOL

-- (Dee360Degree@aol.com), May 08, 2000.


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