The Australian Taxation Office (ATO) has received a quarter of a million tip-offs over the last five years as it hunts down an estimated $16 billion in stolen taxes that haven’t been paid.
The tax office said the 250,000 tips it received from the public since July 2019 – almost 1000 every week – was a sign of growing frustration at people and businesses who are “stealing money needed for essential community services we all rely on”.
“We get on average over 3500 tip-offs a month from people who know or suspect tax evasion or shadow economy behaviour,” ATO assistant commissioner Tony Golding said.
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“This suggests that the community, including honest businesses, have had enough of those who are cheating the system and getting an unfair advantage.”
The tax office believes there is about $16 billion in stolen, unpaid tax each year.
It said 90 per cent of tip-offs lead to further investigation.
“The number of reports we have received tells us that Aussies have had enough. Dodging your tax obligations clearly no longer passes the pub test,” Golding said.
“We’re receiving tip-offs from other businesses, customers, members of the community, employees, and even family and friends.”
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While the rise in digital payments and decline in cash has made it more difficult for dodgy businesses to cheat the tax office, new technology is also opening up new avenues for tax avoidance.
“We’re cracking down on businesses suspected of using illegal point-of-sale electronic sales suppression tools also known as ESS tools that permanently delete transactions, re-sequence transactions, reduce sales values, falsify transactions, and produce fake records,” Golding said.
“For example, a customer orders a $60 steak and a $100 bottle of wine and the ESS tool then puts that through the point-of-sale system as a $10 bowl of chips and a $4 bottle of soft drink.”
Construction, restaurants, and hairdressing and beauty services were the top industries the ATO was tipped off about in 2023-24, while NSW was the top state, with almost a third of the 47,000 tip-offs last financial year.
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