The Australian Inland Revenue Service (ATO) will recently begin a major tax review of all visa holders.
Whether you declare tax or not, you will probably be on the review list!
The ATO, in conjunction with the Immigration Board, has conducted a comprehensive tax screening of 20 million visa holders, including PR, work visas and student visas.
If there are evening tax returns, less tax returns or no tax returns and other acts, light penalties are imposed, heavy may lead to repatriation!
Even if you have already filed tax returns this year, you need to be vigilant because ATO will not only screen for this year`s tax, but will also screen all your taxes within five years!
In early 2017, ATO conducted tax reviews across Australia on small businesses such as restaurants, cafes and nail salons.
According to statistics, up to 58% of nail salons and 45% of restaurants only accept cash, thus achieving tax evasion.
The ATO imposed severe penalties and warnings. However, in the second half of 2017, the Australian Inland Revenue Office still received up to 5500 employees` report letters. for illegal payment of cash salary
In addition, in December 2017, ATO conducted a surprise inspection of Melbourne`s Box Hill region to identify 8 million of the taxes evaded through cash revenues.
ATO was so angry that he was determined to crack down on tax evasion. As a result, from this year on, greater efforts have been made to examine all aspects of tax evasion, in particular with regard to the following areas, which are focused on the scope of the review:
1. Small business operators:
Some businesses are lucky to get away with paying taxes by taking only cash, but this illegal behavior is becoming more and more likely to be monitored by the ATO.
During the review, ATO sent Chinese-speaking tax officers to spot surveys to keep track of the number of people entering and leaving stores and trading to make a thorough and comprehensive assessment of the store`s cash revenues. Once found tax evasion, businesses will face fines and even criminal penalties.
2. Cash balance:
Employers pay their employees` salaries, including their net income and tax withheld, `s pension payments.
Since December 2016, ATO has forced small business operators to pay employee pensions by registering ATO`s superstream system to facilitate clear understanding and effective regulation of pension payments. Illegal non-payment or underpayment of pensions will be more easily exposed.
3. Visa holders:
We mentioned at the outset that ATO was not prepared to spare visa-holders this time. Any form of income of an individual must be taxed, including your overseas income.
For example, if you work while studying abroad, you don`t have to pay tax when your annual income is less than $18200, but you have to report your income to ATO;. If foreign students do not work, but there are bank deposits, the interest income generated by the deposit must also be returned to tax.
It is reported that 70 percent of businesses inspected by ATO in the previous fiscal year increased taxes and levied a total of A $177 million in taxes and fines.
Sydney`s Chatswood district is another area with a large immigrant population and will almost certainly be the target of future ATO inspections, "Chris Jordan said." the local merchants will say, "Sorry, we don`t accept bank cards. I`ll be surprised to hear that. "
In some regions, cash deals have become a "vicious circle,", Chris Jordan said. "for example, some companies in Cabramatta or elsewhere will explain that" everyone trades in cash, otherwise customers won`t come in. "
Earlier this year, federal government`s Black economic strike team revealed that it was investigating the installation of high-tech chips on 100-dollar bills, or even a valid date for 100-dollar notes, which are popular among Chinese.
At present, in Australia`s 234 industries, about 1.6 million small businesses do cash transactions. Businesses, however, have the opportunity to evade taxes or fail to pay pensions for employees, either in cash or primarily in cash.
In these areas, cash transactions are huge. ATO visited Sydney`s Chinatown 159 times, found an undeclared transaction record of 18.3 million yuan, levied 4 million yuan in taxes and fines. Audited Chinatown merchants reported a 27% increase in cash.
In Melbourne, ATO visited Box Hill 131times and found 8 million yuan in undeclared transactions, 1.8 million yuan in taxes and fines;
Adelaide has 2.6 million yuan in undeclared transactions, five hundred and eleven thousand yuan in taxes and fines;
ATO also visited 273 gold coast businesses and found 2.2 million yuan in undeclared transactions, three hundred and forty two thousand taxes and fines.
The Australian newspaper reported that the Australian Inland Revenue Authority (ATO) is conducting nationwide raids on residential areas with high-density cash-only trading businesses to combat the "black economy".
The industry under scrutiny, which includes restaurants, cafes, takeout shops and beauty salons, has recovered A $200 million in taxes.
The "Blitzkrieg" was initiated by the Inland Revenue Commissioner Chris Jordan, `s key areas of investigation, mainly in immigration areas where cash transactions are widely used, including
- Sydney Haymarket,Cabramatta,Liverpool;
- Box Hill,Glen Waverley and Werribee; in Melbourne
- Brisbane`s Sunnybank;.
- Adelaide CBD and Glenelg; in South Australia
- Canberra, Perth and Gold Coast CBD.
Now, in an effort to crack down on tax evasion, the Australian tax agency, (ATO), is targeting those who show off their wealth and living conditions on social media.
A picture, a party, an overseas trip, can get the Inland Revenue Department`s attention.
Most people know that photos posted on social media do not always reflect the reality of people`s lives. To make yourself look "cool" or attract attention, people often make small tweaks on social media.
For example, people proudly show off their high-quality lives through a meal of wine and wine, skiing, designer designs, expensive toys, snapshots of private schools and so on.
But IRS officials will find signs of tax evasion in these inadvertent moves.
According to the Times, the Inland Revenue Service is no longer just sitting there looking through the data in an attempt to identify tax evaders.
The IRS has hired experts or data doctors to look for tax evaders on social media such as Facebook (Facebook) and photo-sharing site Instagram.
Fortunately, they can not look at the content of moments, thank you for the utility of closed social software.
The experts use "clues" on social media to check whether people`s living conditions on social media match their tax returns.
These professionals are developing models to find "unruly" tax payers so that the IRS can match the data as planned.
The Inland Revenue Department has been spying on tax evaders for years
Data matching is not a new audit method for the Inland Revenue Department. For years, they`ve been matching your tax numbers to discover your undeclared interests and investments.
The Inland Revenue Department will also review registered vessels, properties and their stamp duty documents, as well as additional revenue and fees.
Emerging social media has made it easier for the Inland Revenue Bureau to check taxes.
The rise of social media brings a whole new perspective, which for tax payers means that your inadvertent bragging on social media can get you into trouble. Whether it`s your post or photos, or your tax returns, if you`re dishonest, you`re likely to be questioned by the IRD.
Work income
You may start your business on Facebook or on a website, but you haven`t reported it to the IRS, or the IRS knows that you`re unemployed and you`re secretly running a business.
In such cases, you should not test the law, if your business can attract customers for you, it can also "invite" people from the Inland Revenue Department.
[经] cash debit
Auditing revenues and spending is nothing new, but now the Inland Revenue Department can also find people who hide their income through social media.
If you claim an annual income of A $80, 000, you post pictures of your children attending expensive private schools on Instagram, or you post photos of your annual trip overseas on Facebook. The IRS will not only be interested in your photos, they will collect more information according to your lifestyle and expenses to find out if your level of consumption exceeds your declared income range.
Incorrect tax returns
In addition, when you post a photo on Facebook of a luxury weekend at Bondi Beach in January, you report accommodation expenses for overseas meetings and will be targeted by the Inland Revenue Department.
Or you lied to the IRS that you had never used a holiday home and rented it all year round, but you posted photos of you spending weekends there on Instagram. In the IRD`s inspection, data doctors are digging up a growing number of cases that do not match tax returns.
Be an honest taxpaye
Being an honest taxpayer is very important. If you have nothing to hide, you won`t lose anything.
If you are worried that you may not report your income or assets correctly, the Inland Revenue Department will encourage you to say so that you will either not be punished, or your punishment will be significantly reduced.
