ATO extends SME concession

THE Australian Tax Office will be cracking down on refund fraud, the
cash economy, employer obligations, wealthy Australians and secret tax
havens over the next 12 months.



Tax Commissioner Michael D’Ascenzo released the ATO’s compliance program
for 2010-11 last week, and also announced the extension of concessions
for smaller businesses.



“We realise some businesses are still experiencing financial hardship as
a result of the economic downturn and we will extend the measures to
assist small businesses announced last year,” Mr D’Ascenzo said.

“Businesses having difficulty paying their tax debts should contact us
early to work out how we can help them, for example with flexible
payment arrangements or interest-free payment deferrals.”


The Small Business Assistance Package will mean eligible businesses with
a turnover of $2 million or less will continue to have access to a 12-month interest-free payment arrangement with the ATO and a deferral of
activity statement payment due dates.



In its first year, almost 100,000 interest-free payment arrangements
were put in place, and more than 6,600 activity statement payment
deferrals granted.



Meanwhile, Mr D’Ascenzo said this year more than
500 million transactions would be data-matched to ensure taxpayers were declaring their income,
including from bank accounts, investments, overseas transfers and
property transactions.



“We have new risk filters and upgraded technology in place to better
detect incorrect or fraudulent refund claims this year,” he said.

“We will crack down on businesses using cash transactions to hide income
and evade tax, using benchmarks for more than 100 industries and
reviewing or auditing the activities of more than 26,000 micro
businesses.”

Staff reporters