The ATO has updated details of its GST compliance program for which it received 4-year funding in the 2010 Federal Budget to undertake additional compliance activities to promote voluntary GST compliance. It has also released prosecutions and other figures in relation to the compliance program for the 2010-11 year.
The ATO said it is taking the following action against GST non-compliance:
- using new risk indicators to detect incorrect or fraudulent refund claims on activity statement credits;
- issuing pre-due date lodgment reminders to taxpayers via SMS and letter;
- comparing businesses to small business benchmarks for their industry to identify cases for audit or review; businesses performing outside their benchmark range may not be recording or paying tax on all their transactions, especially cash transactions;
- using the small business benchmarks to calculate default assessments where a business has reported insufficient or unreliable information, or has failed to meet their lodgment requirements; and
- increasing its focus on taxpayers that have multiple outstanding activity statement obligations, including telephony-based lodgment enforcement, raising default assessments and, in some cases, prosecution action.
The ATO said the compliance program focuses on the following key areas: (i) improving activity statement lodgment; (ii) dealing with GST fraud and evasion; and (iii) reducing GST debt.
[LTN 11/4]