07jun01

15:00 (AEST) TELSTRA has been forced to change its billing system after mistakenly charging some customers too much GST. Details emerged after Labor senator Mark Bishop produced a bill showing one household had been charged $18.25 GST on a bill of $173.53 - 50 cents too much.

Telstra said today the overcharging was caused by rounding the GST due on each separate item up or down and adding up the total, rather than levying a flat 10 per cent.

Telstra regulatory director Deena Schiff said the company had acted on the advice of the Australian Taxation Office, but had received customer complaints in March and changed the billing system.

"We moved heaven and earth to change all our billing systems to lop any excess amounts off our bills," she told a Senate estimates committee.

But she said not all Telstra's nine million retail customers would have been affected.

"There's a rounding down and a rounding up that occurs line by line so statistically and judging by the number of complaints that have come in it appears to be a very small number of consumers," she said.

News.com

-- Anonymous, June 07, 2001