Procedure for considering request for waiver of Debt Recovery Fee
Dear NSW Office of State Revenue,
I seek any written procedures (as at 29 March 2023) for the consideration of the waiver of Debt Recovery Fees under the State Debt Recovery Act. If documents such as response templates, decision making checklists etc are referenced in the procedure and part of the normal process, please provide them as well.
Yours faithfully,
John Smith
Dear John,
Thank you for your access application with the Department of Customer
Service received on 24 April 2023.
Please note that our reference number for this informal request is
GIPA-00200-2023.
I have spoken to our responsible business unit Revenue NSW in relation to
this request and need some clarification before proceeding.
Revenue NSW collects fees on behalf of government agencies in NSW to
recover outstanding debts for fees and services, e.g. TAFE fees, NSW
Ambulance invoices, quarantine fees etc.
In this regard, are you seeking information about waiving debt recovery
costs, e.g. the $65 recovery fee applied to the debt recovery order, which
is issued by Revenue NSW?
Kind regards,
Tahreem Khan he/him
Government and Executive Support Services
Office of the Chief Operating Officer
DCS Corporate Services
T (02) 9219 3700 E [1][email address]
[2]nsw.gov.au
McKell Building
2-24 Rawson Place
Sydney NSW 2000
[3]Graphical user interface, text Description automatically generated with
medium confidence
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[8]Copy of koori flag2 I acknowledge and pay my respects to the
traditional owners and custodians of the land where I walk, work and live.
Dear GIPA-DCS,
I am looking for any documents that would guide your agency in receiving, actioning, deciding upon and responding to requests for review under Division 4 of the Act. Waiver is a specific right reserved for the Chief Commissioner under the Act and would presumably fall into that Division.
Yours sincerely,
John Smith
Dear John,
Thanks for your email.
The business area in Revenue NSW is asking for a bit more clarification about the request. To assist you, there is information online about who Revenue NSW collect fees for:
https://www.nsw.gov.au/money-and-taxes/f...
To assess whether Revenue NSW would be expected to hold the information requested, can you advise which responsible authority you are referring to (the public authority to which the referable debt is payable, i.e. TAFE, NSW Ambulance, Service NSW etc; see list on the website noted above) and the type of request for review.
For your reference, Revenue NSW use NSW Government Internal Review Guideline under the Fines Act 1996 as a framework to guide its decision-making. This guideline is publicly available at: https://www.justice.nsw.gov.au/justicepo...
In making review decisions, Revenue NSW also take into account the Review Assist Guide. You can view this document at: https://www.nsw.gov.au/money-and-taxes/f...
I hope this information is of assistance.
Feel free to let me know if it is possible to share a contact number so that we can have a quick chat (if needed).
Kind regards,
Tahreem Khan (he/him)
Government and Executive Support Services
Office of the Chief Operating Officer
DCS Corporate Services
T (02) 9219 3700 E [OSR request email]
nsw.gov.au
McKell Building
2-24 Rawson Place
Sydney NSW 2000
I acknowledge and pay my respects to the traditional owners and custodians of the land where I walk, work and live.
Dear GIPA-DCS,
Thank you for this email.
My request would be amply satisfied by providing a document similar to “Internal Review Guidelines under the Fines Act 1996” but for review of debt recovery fees charged under the State Debt Recovery Act.
Yours sincerely,
John Smith
Hi John,
Thanks for your patience with this request.
I am in the process of discussing few issues about this request with the business.
I shall get back to you as soon as I have an update.
Kind regards,
Tahreem Khan he/him
Government and Executive Support Services
Office of the Chief Operating Officer
DCS Corporate Services
T (02) 9219 3700 E [OSR request email]
nsw.gov.au
McKell Building
2-24 Rawson Place
Sydney NSW 2000
I acknowledge and pay my respects to the traditional owners and custodians of the land where I walk, work and live.
Dear John,
Thanks for your patience with this request.
I have double-checked with the business regarding this matter and there is a document, 'Debt Recovery Guidelines - Responsible collection of State debts'.
This is published on Revenue NSW's website: https://www.revenue.nsw.gov.au/help-cent.... Section 4 deals with internal reviews.
Revenue NSW also have information about fee reviews that are published online:
Customers can apply for a fee exemption or review online at https://www.nsw.gov.au/money-and-taxes/f....
It gives specific details about how to submit a request for review of a NSW Ambulance fee. For other fees, this is noted under 'Apply for a review of a government service fee', which directs people to call Revenue NSW on 1300 655 805.
When the customer contacts Revenue NSW to request a review of a fee, it will be referred back to the agency that referred the debt. In most cases, customers can either request a review directly with the referring agency, even once the debt is with Revenue NSW, or they can contact Revenue NSW and request a review.
In this regard, the review of quarantine fees was managed by Revenue NSW. Information about that process is also published online:
Quarantine Fee information and waiver
https://www.revenue.nsw.gov.au/news-medi...
Hope these help.
Kind regards,
Tahreem Khan he/him
Government and Executive Support Services
Office of the Chief Operating Officer
DCS Corporate Services
T (02) 9219 3700 E [OSR request email]
nsw.gov.au
McKell Building
2-24 Rawson Place
Sydney NSW 2000
I acknowledge and pay my respects to the traditional owners and custodians of the land where I walk, work and live.
Dear GIPA-DCS,
Thanks. This mostly satisfies my request though it doesn’t quite go to the detail of how it is handled (eg who reviews the application etc). I do not have high hopes that any such documented procedure exists in this regard though.
You can consider this request closed.
I’d encourage the department to review the document which is now three years overdue for review.
Yours sincerely,
John Smith