Where you are not satisfied with your complaint outcome or the way the ATO handled your complaint, you can get the decision reviewed by contacting the
Overview. As the Taxation Ombudsman, we can help you and investigate your taxation complaint about the Australian Taxation Office (ATO) or the Tax Practitioners Board (TPB). A taxation complaint may be formally investigated and resolved in two stages.
You have the right under tax law go to the Administrative Appeals Tribunal (AAT) or Federal Court of Australia to review some of our actions or decisions.
When the ATO investigates a tax discrepancy, it seeks to determine whether fraud or tax evasion have occurred, or whether you have made an honest mistake. The ATO will look at whether you: Knowingly made false or deceptive statements. Withheld information to influence a tax outcome.
Not reporting your full income – The ATO looks at your full income, which may include bank interest, dividends, trust distributions, and other sources. You need to account for all of your income on your tax return, not just your salary or wage. Fail to do so, and you could trigger an audit.
What documents might the ATO seek when conducting a review? They might request lodgements or information you have made with the ATO that is the subject of its investigations, including financial statements, schedules, agreements/contracts, tax reconciliations and other source documents.
Your Australian bank account statements are accessible to the ATO. The ATO is endowed with extensive legal authority, which allows it to access your personal bank information. Because of these capabilities, the ATO is able to get your Australian bank statements straight from your financial institution.
The law limits how far back the ATO can go to amend their tax assessment of your tax activity. 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.
We can issue a garnishee notice to a person or business that holds money for you or may hold money for you in the future. This requires them to pay your money directly to us to reduce your debt. We'll send a copy of the notice to you.
You can contact us on 1800 199 010 and we'll direct your call to the officer handling your complaint (the resolver) for a progress update. During the complaint resolution process, the resolver will: keep you informed of the progress by SMS, email, phone or letter.
Under the Tax Administration Act 1953, we prosecute a range of summary offences, including: failing to lodge returns or keep records.
The Australian Taxation Office (ATO) has broad powers to access premises for the purpose of administering the taxation laws. In effect, the ATO has the ability to conduct what is commonly referred to as a 'raid'. The power is principally for the purpose of obtaining copies of documents and evidence.
The Ombudsman can investigate complaints about actions and decisions of Australian Government agencies to see if they are wrong, unjust, unlawful, discriminatory or just plain unfair. The Ombudsman also seeks remedies for those affected by administrative deficiency and acts to improve public administration generally.
Nevertheless, the ATO operates as part of the Australian Government and is accountable to the Parliament, and ultimately to the public, through the Treasury Ministers, the Parliamentary Committee process and the tabling of its annual report.
The Australian Financial Complaints Authority (AFCA) considers a wide range of complaints from consumers and small businesses about financial firms. To make a complaint to us: You must be eligible to complain. The complaint needs to be about a financial firm that is an AFCA member.
If you use your former home to produce income (for example, you rent it out or make it available for rent), you can choose to treat it as your main residence for up to 6 years after you stop living in it. This is sometimes called the '6-year rule'. You can choose when to stop the period covered by your choice.
ATO Audit Time Limits
For simple income tax assessments – 2 years from the date an assessment is issued. For more complex tax assessments – 4 years from the date an assessment is issued.
To detect Centrelink clients failing to declare assets, we match all beneficiaries against trust data from the tax return database.
Banks must report cash deposits totaling $10,000 or more
But the deposit will be reported if you're depositing a large chunk of cash totaling over $10,000. When banks receive cash deposits of more than $10,000, they're required to report it by electronically filing a Currency Transaction Report (CTR).
We collect, hold, use and disclose personal information about: super guarantee obligations and entitlements of employers and employees. self-managed super fund members, trustees and directors of corporate trusts, so the funds can be registered, administered and regulated.
For this reason, we sometimes check the accuracy of the information you give us. We do this by selecting some tax returns, activity statements and other documents for checking. If we check your affairs it does not mean we think you are dishonest. Even if we find a discrepancy we accept that mistakes can be made.
Your employer may pay your wages to you in cash (or with a cash cheque), rather than into your bank account. Paying wages in cash is legal and may be more convenient.
We complete reviews if the information is different on your tax return. If we need more information we'll contact you. We use audits to identify learning opportunities for example, to help you get it right. Once again, we'll be in contact if we need more information.