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The small business ombudsman’s track record of dealing with disputes, including ATO issues, has seen two out of three disputes successfully resolved before heading to the courts.
ASBFEO resolves two-thirds of disputes before legal action
17 August 2020
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6 minute read
Australian Small Business and Family Enterprise Ombudsman (ASBFEO) Kate Carnell has revealed that of the 20,000 small-business issues that has been brought to her office’s attention since it was established in 2016, two out of three disputes were successfully resolved at mediation or before.
Ms Carnell added that her assistance team can help small businesses with a range of issues, including everything about intellectual property, disputes with the ATO and payment disputes.
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Disputes that fall under a number of industry codes including franchising, dairy, horticulture and oil can also be handled by the ASBFEO.
“We want to keep small businesses out of the courts, where, let’s face it, the only winners are lawyers,” Ms Carnell said.
“We know small and family businesses that get swept up in legal proceedings can spend thousands of dollars seeking a resolution and are often left feeling the process was a waste of time and money.
“Even if the small business has $100,000 owing — which is a huge amount for them — that can be eaten up quite quickly by legal fees and may take a long time to get a resolution.”
Ms Carnell also noted that the ASBFEO assistance team would aim to resolve the dispute without needing mediation.
“But when a dispute is referred to mediation, it is faster and far more cost-effective than seeking a resolution through the courts,” she added.
“At the end of the day, we want to help small businesses resolve a dispute as quickly as possible so they can get on with what they do best: running their business.”
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