Wind-up actions by the Australian Taxation Office against companies are much less common than sometimes made out in media commentary, and are in decline, the Commissioner for Taxation, Michael D'Ascenzo, said yesterday.Speaking at the Council of Small Business Summit in Brisbane yesterday, D'Ascenzo said the ATO was responsible for two per cent of wind-ups and bankruptcies in 2009. In 2008 the ATO was responsible for 5.6 per cent of wind-ups and bankruptcies.The incidence of company wind-ups tends to be misplaced. ASIC reported that an average of 770 companies a month entered external administration for the first time over the first five months of 2010. In 2009 the monthly average (over the year) was 790. In 2008 the monthly average was 760.The number of company wind-ups so far in 2010 is thus more or less in line, in nominal terms, with the two prior years and there is scant evidence that the credit crunch, GFC, or any other factor is producing a rise in the number of company failures.