ATO says it's not hacking Mr Katf said the technology was used on items seized by the ATO that may relate to suspected organised crime or tax evasion. He said it was not correct to refer to the ATO practices as hacking, saying authorised staff only accessed phones with a warrant.
An ATO spokeswoman said phones were only accessed with a warrant under the Crimes Act, or with written consent from the owner. "For operational reasons, we do not disclose information about when different tools are used as part of our operations," she said.
We will generally make a record of our conversations (including meetings and interviews) and may: provide you with a written summary of the interview containing key issues if you ask for one. request you to sign and date a record of the interview.
Our most serious tax crime matters are dealt with by the cross-agency Serious Financial Crime Taskforce. We prosecute offences under the Tax Administration Act and work with other agencies on tax-related fraud cases.
read about how to verify a scam phone us on 1800 008 540 between 8:00 am and 6:00 pm AEST, Monday to Friday.
The ATO can search your property without a warrant
The Tax Office has the power to forcibly enter a property and search for documents without a warrant.
The reason for this is to do with what has been included or excluded in your tax return; for example, attempting to reduce taxes by not correctly including income or incorrectly overclaiming deductions can trigger an ATO Audit.
No – you cannot go to jail if you are unable to pay your taxes in Australia. If the issue is simply that you cannot afford to pay, you will not be imprisoned. However, tax fraud, also known as tax evasion, is a serious crime with the maximum penalty including a term of imprisonment.
We receive data from a range of sources, including banks, financial institutions and other government agencies. We validate this data and match it against our own information to identify where people and businesses may not be reporting all their income.
What triggers a tax investigation? Tax investigations and frequent tax audits are more likely if: you file tax returns late, pay tax late or make errors that need correcting. there are inconsistencies or substantial variations between different returns, such as a large fall in income or increase in costs.
two years for most individuals and small businesses. two years for most medium businesses (see note 2) four years for all other taxpayers (see note 3).
For most taxpayers with simple affairs, the tax office can go back two years, while if your tax affairs are more complex they can go back four years.
Large data breaches
We want to assure you that ATO systems have not been affected.
The truth is, most mobile phones are monitored somehow, whether they're government phones or not. Most monitoring happens when we permit certain apps to track our location, contacts, internet browsing, and more. Companies collect this information and then legally sell it to the government and other large companies.
Under this act, all state police forces can listen into phone calls with warrants, as well as federal bodies such as the Australian Federal Police, the Australian Crime Commission and ICAC.
The government can only use a wiretap in certain cases, some of which include those involving terrorism crimes, drug dealing, counterfeiting, misuse of passports, and aircraft parts fraud.
The ATO can, and will, check your bank accounts, cross reference payments against an ABN and confirm missing income from your tax return.
We pass approximately 100,000 records to Centrelink each week. Around 12% of these are found to be Centrelink clients. ATO data is provided under table item 1 in table 1 in section 355-65 of Schedule 1 to the Taxation Administration Act 1953 (TAA).
Banks will require additional documentation for transfers that involve more than $10,000. Depending on the amount you're sending, you might have to provide additional information, such as proof of your source of wealth. You might have to show your monthly payslips.
Tax fraud is a serious criminal offence that carries a maximum penalty of 10 years imprisonment. Ignorance of the law is not a defence. Neither is failing to get proper legal advice.
You could face civil penalties.
Bigger understatements mean bigger consequences. In this case, the most common penalties are: Negligence penalty: 20% of the additional tax. Fraud penalty: 75% of the additional tax due to fraud.
Impose a freezing order – for example, on your bank accounts. That is, without notice the ATO can freeze and then if required strip your accounts, particularly where they believe you have alternative sources of income. This freezing order cannot be initiated by the ATO but must be granted by a court.
Audit Rate
(Source: IRS Data Book, 2020.) Overall, the chance of being audited was 0.6%. This means only one out of every 166 returns was audited—the lowest audit rate since 2002.
What happens if you get audited and owe money? If you get audited by the IRS and owe money, you'll be notified of the additional tax that you're required to pay as well as any penalties and interest due. The correspondence that you receive from the IRS will mention a deadline by which you must pay.
Under the Bank Secrecy Act, various types of businesses are required to notify the IRS and other federal agencies whenever anyone engages in large cash transactions that involve more than $10,000. The idea is to thwart illegal activities.