Over the past few years the ATO has enhanced and extended their data matching software. When the ATO processes tax returns they cross-reference the information declared in the returns against records collected from other government organisations like Department of Transport, Centrelink, Workcover, Superannuation Funds, Banks and Financial Institutions.
Despite honest and detailed declarations, tax payers can still be selected for a tax audit or review by the ATO. In our experience a “quick” audit takes around 28 days, worst case scenario it can take 3 to 4 months. The process can involve face to face meetings with the ATO and requests for financial records for up to five years from the date of lodgement. The costs incurred can be significant (running into tens of thousands of dollars), even if all your lodgements are eventually proved to be correct.
So what triggers an Audit? Some are random selection, some are triggered by anonymous tip offs or your business might be in an industry or sector the ATO has decided to focus on for a particular period. Here’s some other red flags that can trigger a tax audit:
Cash Business
If you receive cash for providing products or services but don’t declare those incomes, your expenses (in terms of percentage of revenues) will look abnormally high.
Performing above (or below) Industry Benchmarks
The ATO has the most comprehensive records of business activities in Australia. They have developed benchmarks for average income and key expense ratios for many industries. If your business is inconsistent with peers in your industry, this can be an indicator of tax issues such as unreported income and over estimation of expenses.
Disgruntled Employee
Employees, who complain to the ATO that their employers have not paid their super correctly, will attract the ATO’s interest immediately. Often what starts as a review of superannuation can escalate into an audit of income tax, GST and fringe benefits tax (FBT) if the process isn’t properly managed. Disgruntled suppliers can also cause trouble.
Discrepancies between information lodged with the ATO
Large variance in the information lodged with the ATO is one of the most common triggers of an ATO review or audit. This includes (but is not limited to) discrepancies between:
- an income tax return and an FBT return on employee benefit contributions;
- BAS and Payment Summaries on gross wages and PAYG withholding;
- Income tax return and BAS on total sales and expenses
Other Triggers
There are other triggers like history of late lodgments, failing to lodge FBT Returns when the business owns motor vehicles, consistently reporting operating losses and unusual fluctuations of trading performance between years.
To protect yourself talk to us about obtaining Audit Insurance to cover your professional costs in dealing with an ATO Audit.
Comments are closed.