Four firms have secured contracts with the Australian Taxation Office to help collect delinquent tax debts.
The four are D&B, Baycorp Collection Services, National Credit Management and Recoveries Corporation Group, the
Herald Sun reported.
Two of these, D&B and Recoveries Corporation Group, have similar contracts with Centrelink.
The recent growth of ATO tax debts is something that can only be guessed at, since Tax publishes data slowly.
The last estimate, more than a year old now, was small business tax debts of $8 million, up 35 per cent in the three years to June 2006.
The Australian National Audit Office estimated a compound growth rate of 19 per cent in the level of collectable tax debt. The ATO told a parliamentary committee last month that the rate of growth of collectable debt slowed in the 2007 financial year, but wasn't more precise.