The Australian Taxation Office (ATO) is investigating investors who are artificially inflating their investment losses or transferring them inappropriately to take advantage of tax refunds for any losses incurred.
ATO Second Commissioner of Taxation Jennie Granger said many losses are arising from investors’ need to offload an investment quickly to meet margin calls, for example, and those facing financial pressure may be tempted to artificially create losses.
The ATO will be advising people on how to claim losses correctly and inform them of their capital gains tax obligations if they dispose of any assets from investment properties or managed funds.
The ATO will also increase its data matching activities to analyse transactions involving ownership and disposal of property investments and shares, superannuation contribution statements, and self-managed super fund returns, Granger said.
It will also investigate taxpayer returns for partnership and trust income and compare employee-shared schemes with the share scheme plans of major companies to resolve any discrepancies with taxpayers.
