Expert systems and Australian
Taxation administration
Mark Burt, Project Manager for Expert Systems at the Australian
Taxation Office, explains how they are using XpertRule to develop
an Expert Taxation System
With a rapidly increasing number of decision-making processes
to be completed within short time frames, the Australian Taxation
Office (ATO) needs effective software to assist in developing expert
systems to expedite these processes.
We have been using XpertRule to develop an expert system to assist
in applying policy to requests from tax practitioners for additional
time to lodge their client's income tax returns.
Expert systems technology was introduced to bring consistency
to the decision making process, as well as speed it up through semi-automation.
We wanted to ensure that, with a given set of circumstances, each
practitioner would be given the same decision about their application.
Links are being tested between the expert system and the ATO's mainframe
so that complete automation may be achieved for the majority of
applications.
We plan to have systems deployed on the intranet and/or Internet
sites for easy access to all staff and/or clients. A key strategy
of the ATO is to encourage and enable as many clients as possible
to use self-help. The use of expert systems is a key component in
achieving this.
Improved objective decision making
Extensive analysis was done with subject matter experts to develop
the business rules before building the expert system. As there is
a significant element of subjectivity in this kind of decision-making,
the most difficult part of developing the business rules was determining
what factors to take into consideration when making a decision.
The most obvious one was the reason given. A comprehensive list
of reasons used was compiled from archived applications and each
was given a weighting. Tolerance levels were set to categorise the
reasons as "disaster", "exceptional", "normal" or "trivial" depending
on the total weighting score.
The decision tree is branched at this point, and only additional
relevant information is requested. For example, if the reason is
"disaster," then as long as the requested extension date is before
the end of the financial year, the extension will be granted.
Other factors taken into consideration are:
- Program - each practitioner is set to one of five lodgment programs.
The due date of a return is dependent on the practitioner's lodgment
program.
- History - the practitioner's lodgment patterns are assessed
as being "good" or "bad". The taxpayer's lodgment history is given
a score dependent on whether previous returns have been lodged
on time.
- Proposition - this compares the date the return is due to be
lodged with the date the practitioner is proposing. It is classified
as "acceptable" or "unacceptable". The length of time varies in
accordance with the grounds, history and other related factors.
- Timing - if the agent has applied too early (that is, we believe
they still have sufficient time to prepare and lodge the return
by the due date) or have left the request until the last day,
the application will be rejected. Exceptions have been built into
the system in the case of "disasters".
National implementation
The expert system was tested in one branch office and a post implementation
review recommended national implementation. Work is underway to refine
and simplify the business rules to achieve better and more equitable
outcomes.
Electronic forms
Information is currently entered by ATO staff working from written
requests. On completion of a case, XpertRule generates a standard
letter for the operator to mail to the practitioner.
Development is underway to capture the information needed by the
expert system using an electronic form. The practitioner will fill
in the form on their PC and transmit it to the ATO over a secure
link. The data is then imported by the expert system to make the
decision.
Operators will only need to enter any data that is stored on other
ATO business systems. On completion, the case will be transmitted
to a workflow management system for archiving.
Editor's Note: Venturi Limited,
XpertRule's partner in Australia and New Zealand, are the provider
of
XpertRule to the Australian Taxation Office.
|
