ATO to wrap up Panama Papers investigations with $65m assessments & 3 criminal investigations; Paradise Papers still a WIP for multi-authority investigations

At a Senate Estimates hearing on 30 May 2018, Neil Olesen, ATO Second Commissioner, Client Engagement Group.

With regard to the Panama Papers (the first leak); he said:

1. the ATO had completed 315 reviews or audits as part of its Panama Papers investigations.
2. He said the ATO still had another 81 that are in progress and that it hoped “to have that whole piece of work completed by the end of this financial year or very shortly thereafter”.
3. The ATO has raised about $65 million in liabilities in relation to those cases it has completed.
4. Collections are around $10 million worth of cash at this stage, Mr Olesen said.
5. There are 3 individuals who are under criminal investigations at the moment, resulting from the work the ATO has done, although the ATO is not yet at the stage where it has referred anything to the DPP.

On the Paradise Papers, “we’re earlier in that process”, Mr Olesen said:

1. The ATO has had several tranches of information provided to it and has compiled a master list of entities – Australian citizens or corporate entities – that have a connection, coming out of those papers.
2. The ATO is working with the ACIC, AUSTRAC and ASIC as part of the task force to analyse this material.
3. Having compiled that master list, the ATO is now working with those other agencies to work out which of those entities might require further investigation.
4. Mr Olesen said the ATO expects a lot of them won’t require further investigation. “There’ll be some ordinary explanation, or they may have already come forward under Project DO IT or other disclosure initiatives that we’ve had”.
5. The ATO is also working internationally with the JITSIC forum, the joint international task force on shared intelligence and collaboration which the Commissioner chairs. The ATO is working through JITSIC to put together a multilateral strategy around what it finds through these data sources it has had access to. “So it’s a work in progress”, Mr Olesen said.
6. The Commissioner said tax authorities “have never worked together like that before” and it has been a huge step forward for international tax issues and also focusing on the intermediaries.

[TT Panama Papers: Mossack Fonseca, IJIC, IJIC2, German Minister, JITSIC, AUSTRAC, Bahamas Leaks]

TT Paradise Papers: ICIJ Release; ATO & JITSIC, Apple Tax; LTN107, 6/6/18; Tax Month – June 2018]

FJM 15.6.18

Study questions (answers available)

1. With regard to the Panama Papers, has the ATO completed 315 investigations with a further 81 a work in progress?
2. From this work, have they raised $65m in liabilities and collected about $10m of this?
3. Did the ATO confirm that there are not yet any criminal investigations?
4. With regard to the Paradise Papers, has the ATO compiled a master list of entities to be investigated, from the information supplied to it?
5. Is the ATO working with ACIC, ASIC and AUSTRAC on which entities warrant further investigation?
6. Did the Second Commissioner say that the co-operative effort, from the committee of world tax administrators (JITSIC) remains disappointing?