Accountants need to manage the perceptions of some people that their offices are akin to a confessional where tax evasion can be openly discussed, according to Chartered Accountants Australia and New Zealand tax leader, Michael Croker.
Croker has warned that tax advisers need to ensure they do not unwittingly provide criminals with the cloak of legitimacy.
“We must become more aware of behaviours indicative of possible criminal behaviour,” he said in an article published on the Chartered Accountants Australia and New Zealand website.
Croker directly referred to the revelations uncovered by the so-called Panama Papers and warned that more might be revealed after the Australian Taxation Office (ATO) had trawled through the documents.
“About 80 of those named are already ‘known’ to the Serious Financial Crime Taskforce, a group which includes the ATO,” he said.
Croker suggested that tax evaders who had failed to come forward during the ATO’s ‘Project Do It’ were particularly exposed to possible criminal sanctions.
“Indeed, any light touch ATO treatment for this group now not only runs counter to the thinking which justified this project, but also gives ammunition to those who argue such initiatives don’t work and shouldn’t be offered in the first place,” he said.
