ATO On The Trail Of Offshore Credit Card Holders

by Mary Swire, Tax-News.com, Hong Kong

19 July 2006

A list of almost 2,000 individuals accused of using offshore accounts to dodge Australian taxes has reportedly been submitted to the Australian Tax Office.

According to a report by the Sydney Morning Herald, the names of 1,800 potential tax evaders have been handed to the Australian authorities by a foreign government as part of a multilateral crackdown on the use of offshore credit cards and accounts.

The list was provided by a member of the seven-country Working Group on Tax Havens during a bank and broker investigation, the paper reported.

Last year, it was reported that the secret investigation targeting both promoters and participants had uncovered A$10 million (US$7.5 million) a day which is destined for offshore jurisdictions from Australian accounts.

Some 15,230 credit and debit cards were then found by the ATO to have been issued by offshore providers, although the majority of these, 11,548, were being used legitimately by tourists, students and businesses. The ATO is concentrating its investigative efforts on a list of about 3,600 offshore credit cards.

Australia has escalated its efforts to crack down on tax evasion in recent times, as evidenced by initiatives such as Operation Wickenby. Since the middle of last year, the campaign has pooled the collective resources of the Australian Crime Commission, the Australian Tax Office, the Australian Federal Police, the Australian Securities and Investments Commission and the Commonwealth Director of Public Prosecutions to uncover and punish those promoting and using illegitimate offshore tax schemes.

Last year, the authorities identified 511 cases of offshore tax evasion and fraud, many of which had been uncovered using data from Austrac, which monitors money flows entering and leaving Australia.

These efforts are likely to be ongoing for a number years after Australian Treasurer Peter Costello announced in January that the government will be allocating an additional A$305 million (US$225 million) over the next 6 years to fund Operation Wickenby.

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