ATO set to doorknock as 60% of cash-heavy businesses caught
As part of the government’s broader crackdown on the cash economy, the tax office has told tax agents it will soon be visiting more clients to check they are reporting their cash payments.
The ATO has already conducted nationwide ‘Protecting honest business’ visits in a bid to monitor reporting compliance with cash payments.
It’s set for a new round of visits soon, in areas where its data matching shows businesses are not accepting electronic payments.
“While we know not every business is doing the wrong thing, we found over 60 per cent of the businesses we visited so far need to take some kind of corrective action,” the ATO said in a statement released yesterday.
This follows the ATO visiting about 400 small businesses operating with a heavy focus on cash transactions last year.
The ATO’s work is part of a massive government crackdown on the black economy in Australia. In December 2016, the Turnbull government launched a taskforce dedicated to those who use cash payments to avoid tax and superannuation obligations.
By: Katarina Taurian
30 JANUARY 2018
accountantsdaily.com.au