What attracts the tax man
The Australian Taxation Office will provide high-net-worth individuals and their advisers with documentation detailing what attracts the attention of the tax man.
The Commissioner for Taxation, Michael D’Ascenzo, said on Friday that the ATO would be producing a booklet setting out what attracts its attention, what the ATO considers to be a risk, and details of its information collection and compliance processes.
He said the ATO was allocating more resources to monitor the tax affairs of around 1,100 high-wealth individuals — people who effectively control $30 million or more in net wealth.
“We are also reviewing the tax affairs of people with salaried income of more than $1 million,” D’Ascenzo said.
“The Tax Office has identified some cases where it appears that income is not being fully reported.”
He said that this mainly involved income from employee share benefits such as options and rights issues, as well as cash bonuses and non-income capital benefits.
The Tax Commissioner went on to say that the ATO would be looking at people whose lifestyles “are out of step with their reported income”.
“We are developing industry benchmarks for some people and industries where there is a high volume of cash transactions,” he said.
“We will work with industry organisations in determining these benchmarks.”
Recommended for you
The central bank has announced its latest rate decision amid stubborn inflation and increasing geopolitical tension.
Government has introduced a bill to Parliament to legislate the first stream of the QAR reforms.
ASIC now has a 1:1 ratio when it comes to court success in the enforcement of crypto activities and more action is expected as Treasury seeks to introduce a regulatory framework.
A leading governance body has hit out at “specialist interest groups proposing ad hoc law reform” when it comes to reforms of financial services legislation and believes an independent body is needed.