The ATO on Thur 19.7.2012, released its 2012-13 Compliance Program, highlighting the compliance issues attracting ATO attention and what it is doing to address them. The program covers individuals, micro businesses, SMEs, large businesses, Project Wickenby, tax practitioners, superannuation, promoter penalty laws, and non-profit organisations. Focus areas identified by the ATO include:
- unusually high levels of work-related claims of IT managers, plumbers and defence force personnel;
- tax avoidance schemes engaged in by high income earners;
- unreported cash transactions in the plastering and cafe industries;
- identifying “sham” entities – in particular, the ATO will be looking at GST registration applications;
- contractor arrangements, particularly in the construction industry;
- treatment of private company profits, particularly in relation to loan arrangements;
- employer obligations in relation to superannuation, with a focus on cafes and restaurants, real estate businesses and carpentry businesses in home building or construction;
- GST business systems in the following industries: mining, manufacturing, wholesale trade, and financial and insurance services;
- incorrect or contrived application of the consolidation cost-setting rules;
- the self-managed super fund (SMSF) sector;
- fraudulent phoenix activities;
- Project Wickenby and aggressive trust-related tax avoidance and evasion; and
- ensuring tax and BAS agents meet their own tax obligations.
Source: ATO media release No 2012/30, 19 July 2012
[LTN 138, 19/7]