Business Owners: Is ATO motor vehicle data matching driving you insane?
The recent announcement from the ATO about its motor vehicle data matching program is likely to be driving many business owners insane. Are you up to speed with the latest changes and how they could impact you and your business?
If you’re not careful, failure to be across the latest ATO initiative could cause a major deceleration of your business …so here we clear up the basics to help you consider your own compliance.
The ATO data matching program
The ATO have advised that they will be acquiring information for the 2016/17, 2017/18 and 2018/19 financial years from the eight state and territory motor vehicle registry authorities.
The program has been developed to assess the overall taxation compliance of individuals and businesses involved in buying and selling motor vehicles.
Information will be provided on motor vehicles that have been transferred or newly registered, where the purchase price or market value is equal to or greater than $10,000. This will be matched against individuals’ tax records.
This would presumably include most vehicles used by professionals. So it is not really an avoidable speed bump for many individuals or businesses – but what could it mean to you?
Non-compliance: are you on the ATO radar?
The records of 1.5 million individuals each year will be electronically matched with ATO data holdings to identify non-compliance with obligations under tax and superannuation laws.
The gazette notice for the ATO data matching program notes that the objectives of this initiative include:
- Obtaining intelligence about taxpayers buying and selling motor vehicles to identify risks and trends of non-compliance with tax and super obligations;
- Identifying and addressing taxpayers who are buying and selling vehicles but who may not be meeting their obligations to register and lodge returns (including activity statements) and ensure the correct reporting of income and entitlement to deductions and input tax credits;
- Identifying taxpayers of interest for investigation, such as sellers, licenced dealers, fleet managers, leasing companies or representatives of these taxpayers to determine if interposed proxy ownership is used to conceal the real accumulation of wealth;
- Identifying taxpayers who have not met obligations regarding GST, fringe benefits tax, luxury car tax, fuel schemes, and income tax.
Are you grimacing at any of the above?
If you have any major concerns about the ATO data matching program and how it might affect you or your business, please don’t hesitate to contact our office and speak with Sharlene Ryan on 07 3490 9988
