NEW tax commissioner Michael D’Ascenzo has bolstered his crusade against illegal tax schemes by fast-tracking plans to increase the sharing of information between the Australian Taxation Office and the Australian Securities and Investments Commission. The co-operation is targeted at offshore tax scams but the reforms are likely to catch corporations and individuals involved in what Mr D’Ascenzo has called “egregious abuse”. Since the beginning of this year, ASIC and the ATO have held several workshops to expand an existing agreement implemented in 2005 to improve information access.
