Hot Issues
spacer
Small businesses may ‘collapse under strain of payday super’, IPA warns
spacer
ATO’s hands tied with scrapping on-hold debts, expert says
spacer
What Drives Your Business Growth and Profits?
spacer
Australian Taxation Office (ATO) shifting to firmer debt collection activity
spacer
Why employee v contractor comes down to fine print
spacer
Sharing economy reporting regime for platform operators
spacer
Countries producing the most solar power by gigawatt hours
spacer
Illegal access nets $637 million
spacer
Accessing superannuation benefits.
spacer
Does your business have a company Power of Attorney?
spacer
Labor tweaks stage 3 tax cuts to make room for ‘middle Australia’
spacer
GrantConnect
spacer
2 in 3 SMEs benefit from instant asset write-off, survey reveals
spacer
Updated guidance on R&D claims
spacer
Do you know how to recover debts?
spacer
Wheat Production by Country
spacer
Types of small business benchmarks
spacer
What is a Commercial Lease?
spacer
ATO warns advisers against suspect R&D tax claims
spacer
The year of workplace law upheaval
spacer
How to Resolve Invoice Payment Disputes
spacer
Raft of revenue tweaks in MYEFO to raise millions
spacer
The Countries that Export the Most Wine in the World
Article archive
spacer
Quarter 4 October - December 2023
spacer
Quarter 3 July - September 2023
spacer
Quarter 2 April - June 2023
spacer
Quarter 1 January - March 2023
spacer
Quarter 4 October - December 2022
spacer
Quarter 3 July - September 2022
spacer
Quarter 2 April - June 2022
spacer
Quarter 1 January - March 2022
spacer
Quarter 4 October - December 2021
spacer
Quarter 3 July - September 2021
spacer
Quarter 2 April - June 2021
spacer
Quarter 1 January - March 2021
spacer
Quarter 4 October - December 2020
spacer
Quarter 3 July - September 2020
spacer
Quarter 2 April - June 2020
spacer
Quarter 1 January - March 2020
spacer
Quarter 4 October - December 2019
spacer
Quarter 3 July - September 2019
spacer
Quarter 2 April - June 2019
spacer
Quarter 1 January - March 2019
spacer
Quarter 4 October - December 2018
spacer
Quarter 3 July - September 2018
spacer
Quarter 2 April - June 2018
spacer
Quarter 1 January - March 2018
spacer
Quarter 4 October - December 2017
spacer
Quarter 3 July - September 2017
spacer
Quarter 2 April - June 2017
spacer
Quarter 1 January - March 2017
spacer
Quarter 4 October - December 2016
spacer
Quarter 3 July - September 2016
spacer
Quarter 2 April - June 2016
spacer
Quarter 1 January - March 2016
spacer
Quarter 4 October - December 2015
spacer
Quarter 3 July - September 2015
spacer
Quarter 2 April - June 2015
spacer
Quarter 1 January - March 2015
spacer
Quarter 4 October - December 2014
Quarter 1 of, 2017 archive
spacer
Impending GST changes good news for SMEs
spacer
SMSF related-party borrowing arrangements
spacer
Primary Producer Income Tax Averaging
spacer
Active vs passive assets and the small business CGT concession
spacer
ATO issues further taxpayer alerts on key focus areas
spacer
Borrowed money to pay a business tax debt? Is the interest deductible?
spacer
Online Selling
spacer
The dangers of income splitting
spacer
Clients failing on depreciation front - property investment
spacer
Home office deductions: What substantiation will the ATO accept?
spacer
ATO advises accountants on client data swoop
spacer
ATO issues stern reminder on new backpacker tax
spacer
Debt Recovery
spacer
Government takes next step in tax cheats crackdown
spacer
Car salary packages and the deductibility of after-tax running costs
spacer
Choosing an Executor
spacer
ATO fires warning shots at cash economy exploiters
spacer
Getting a tax valuation from the ATO
spacer
5 tips to get home office deductions right
ATO fires warning shots at cash economy exploiters

 

The ATO has warned businesses in the cash economy are a major focus area for the regulator as it ramps up its scrutiny of third party data, in an effort to ensure  a fair marketplace for businesses doing the right thing.

       

 

Looking ahead to 2017, ATO assistant commissioner Colin Walker told AccountantsDaily that the ATO will continue to home in on the cash economy.

“We're very much looking at the cash and hidden economy,” Mr Walker said.

“That is a major focus for us and in the past it would've been viewed as catching people who are involved in the cash economy. The focus these days is very much around protecting the honest businesses from unfair competition.”

Mr Walker said the ATO now understands that it needs to deal with the impact of wrongdoers on law-abiding businesses.

“We don't want to have a situation where businesses are struggling because they are suffering from unfair competition,” he said.

“So we're very focused there in areas such as the restaurant and cafe, hair and beauty, and building and construction [sectors], and other areas such as the sharing economy industries will be focuses into the future in that space.”

IPA senior tax adviser Tony Greco added that the increased amount of third-party data available to the ATO is helping to facilitate its crackdown on the cash economy.

“For small business there are benchmarks: the cash economy benchmarks, for example. They've been up and running a while and they use those quite extensively,” Mr Greco said.

“If a business is looking like it’s under-reporting income or is not as profitable on paper as the average, then what they'll do is they'll match that up with other data.”

Mr Greco said third-party data is useful because the benchmarks are averages and don’t take into consideration factors like location and number of hours worked.

“So there's a lot of third-party data making its way into the ATO and the ATO has that at its disposal, and it also has the ability to ask for information,” he said.

“It can go to eBay, it can go to Airbnb, it can go Uber, and it can basically suck up all that information and then compare it to its record of activity that has been lodged,” he said.

“There's no limit to the amount of data. The issue nowadays is how effectively that data is mined, what's coming in to the black box and comparing it to what returns have been lodged.”

 


LARA BULLOCK
Monday 12 December 2016
accountantsdaily.com.au

site By AcctWeb