The Australian National Audit Office (ANAO) on Tue 15.10.2013, issued Performance Audit Report No 5 of 2013-14 concerning the ATO’s administration of the personal services income (PSI) regime.
- The ANAO noted that at the time of preparing its report, the ATO’s PSI data was limited to taxpayers who had declared themselves subject to the PSI regime.
- In 2011-12, the ATO data indicated that 462,824 taxpayers declared receipt of PSI and, of these, 328,261 were assessed as personal services businesses and therefore exempt from the PSI rules.
- The remaining 134,563 entities, for whom the PSI rules applied, reported $3.1bn in net PSI.
The ANAO found the ATO has effectively administered many of the key elements of the regime, including developing sound governance arrangements and appropriate business planning, risk management and reporting processes. It also found there has been an evolving program of compliance activities to promote voluntary compliance and to address non-compliance with PSI obligations.
The ANAO made one recommendation aimed at strengthening the assessment of the PSI compliance risk and the effectiveness of PSI compliance activities, by estimating the population of non-compliant taxpayers and the magnitude of revenue at risk. The ATO agreed with the recommendation.
[LTN 200, 16/10/13]