ATO Sets Out Annual Compliance Programme

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

18 August 2004

Employers who fail to meet their tax obligations, medium and large sized businesses, super funds and offshore investors are among those expected to be subject to increased scrutiny by the Australian Tax Office this year.

Unveiling the ATO’s latest Compliance Programme, Tax Commissioner Michael Carmody said the tax office intends to build on last year’s results, as well as identifying some particular areas of concern in which activities will be stepped up.

In particular, firms failing to make superannuation payments, large businesses and wealthy individuals will come under renewed pressure to fulfil their tax obligations, according to Carmody.

"Of the $6.4 billion raised in liabilities from our compliance work last year, more than half of this was raised from large businesses and high wealth individuals, and we will continue our focus on these groups this year," he noted.

Medium-sized businesses - those with turnovers of $50 million or more - will also face increased scrutiny, announced the Commissioner.

This year, the ATO intends to step up enforcement of international taxation, particularly in relation to offshore investments, with an additional 80 risk reviews of involvements with tax havens commenced so far, in addition to the 155 risk reviews already underway.

The tax office has also pledged to undertake 1,450 audits involving foreign source income detected through data matching.

This is the third year that the ATO has published its Compliance Program. According to last year’s results, an additional A$4.5 billion in tax was collected, 40% higher than the previous year.

Recommended