Tax Office Audit Targets for 2011

Click here for ATO - Compliance Program

The Australian Taxation Office will be focusing on the following for the 2011 tax year:

Individuals

This year the Tax office will pay particular attention to:

• Refund fraud
  • Implementation of specialist technology to analyse income tax returns to identify errors or possible fraudulent activities before refunds are issued
  • Taking rigorous action against people who prepare returns for others without being a registered tax agent
• Investors
  • Educate investors about their obligations to report rental and dividend income and claiming rental and share investment expenses correctly
  • Alerting taxpayers who have had capital gains events from the sale of shares or property to their capital gains tax reporting obligation
• Executives, directors and other individuals with high incomes 
  • Australian resident employees of multinational companies receiving benefits from overseas employee share bonus schemes will have their tax position reviewed
  • Scrutinise reporting of income from employee share schemes by company executives and directors, and remuneration payments received from overseas entities or paid from Australia to overseas accounts
  • Monitor tax-minimisation strategies used by individuals with income over $1 million, including alienation of personal services income and claiming large deductions and credits
• Work-related expenses
  • Offering guides to assist engineers, mechanics and teachers claim their expenses correctly
  • Providing other guides for specific occupations
• Deduction of Superannuation Contributions
  • Matching data provided by superannuation funds and ensure the law is followed when individuals claim income tax deductions for personal contributions to superannuation funds
• Excess Superannuation Contributions
  • Informing people about the superannuation contributions caps and the tax consequences of exceeding them and following up with people who exceed the caps and raise assessments where necessary
• Illegally Accessed or Released Superannuation
  • Auditing individuals involved with illegal access of superannuation benefits
• Information Matching
  • Cross referencing information people report in their tax returns with information provided by other parties to verify income received from employment, welfare, interest, dividends, entitlements to offsets and obligations
  • Continue the implementation of matching program to identify non-lodgers and people who have under reported income or over claimed entitlements