aaPrevious StoryNext StoryArticle rank 13 Jan 2014 Herald Sun
ANTHONY KEANE
ATO targets tax cheats
Government to clamp down on dodgy returns
BEING sneaky or slack with your tax return is bad at the best of times, but this year you’re more likely than ever to get caught.
As our economy lurches towards a $47 billion budget deficit, financial experts say the government is trying to boost income tax revenue by focusing more heavily on dodgy tax claims.
Millions of extra dollars are being spent on Australian Taxation Office technology that matches people’s tax returns with data about them sourced from banks, investments, real estate transactions and other institutions.
“The ATO expects to match 640 million credit and debit card transactions taken directly from the banks from 2014,” said Prosperity Advisers director of business services and taxation Stephen Cribb.
“The ATO has the power to look backwards for between two and four years, and in cases of tax evasion there is no limit,” he said.
“People can get caught simply by not keeping the right
records.”
An ATO spokeswoman said in last year’s Federal Budget the government committed almost $78 million to expanding the ATO’s data-matching systems, which were projected to deliver an extra $610 million in revenue over four years.
“In 2012-13, we used our data and information matching to raise $939 million in revenue adjustments from 449,000 reviews and audits,” she said.
“Expanding the ATO’s data matching with third party information will improve compliance and provide a level playing field for Australian taxpayers.”
The ATO spokesman said the data matching also improved the pre-filling of people’s tax returns, which made tax time simpler.
Some accounting groups have noticed increased ATO scrutiny of their clients in recent months. Hood Sweeney managing director Matthew Rowe said wealthier Australians, business owners and people with aggressive or sophisticated tax strategies were most likely to be targeted.
