Evaluating Australia's tax dispute resolution system: A dispute systems design perspective

Dispute Systems Design (DSD) refers to a deliberate effort to identify and improve the way an organisation addresses conflict by decisively and strategically arranging its dispute resolution processes. A number of principles have been put forward by various DSD practitioners for best practice in effective DSD. To date tax dispute resolution is an area that has not been examined extensively utilising DSD principles. Building on the limited prior research in this area, this paper evaluates the effectiveness of the design of the current Australian tax dispute resolution procedures utilising a comprehensive range of DSD principles and makes suggestions for improvements.