Did you know that the ATO have a very elaborate data matching thing happening?
They collect data from financial institutions and online selling sites and compare this information to what you provide to them in your tax returns, BAS’s and various other documents that you declare what you are earning eg. Loan applications, credit card, store cards and interest free cards.
The ATO can then capture data like this:
- the total amount of credit and debit card payments businesses received eg. Payments deposited into your business and personal accounts
- online sellers who have sold at least $12,000 worth of goods or services eg. Paypal
- payments made to ride-sourcing drivers from accounts held by the ride-sourcing facilitator eg. Uber.
What happens from this matching is that the ATO can quite easily identify businesses that either are trying to avoid their tax obligations or identify businesses that may just some help.
If you think that you may have made a mistake, you or your accountant can lodge an amendment or make a voluntary disclosure to the ATO which is looked upon favourably when it comes to imposing penalties or granting a payment arrangement.
If you need help, please contact your accountant asap and get back on track before it’s too late.
Here’s the link to the ATO’s website about this initiative – https://www.ato.gov.au/General/Building-confidence/In-detail/Data-matching/?page=6