- The Australian Taxation Office is cautioning businesses against participating in related-party structuring arrangements to evade taxes
- The Serious Financial Crimes Taskforce has noticed a rise in fraudulent GST refund claims in various industries
- These schemes involve complex arrangements between connected parties to hide transactions and claim large, false GST refunds
- The taskforce has pinpointed groups exploiting GST regulations through shared intelligence and information with other agencies
- Deputy Commissioner John Ford urges business owners to heed these warnings
- The ATO has the tools and partnerships to detect and address sophisticated financial crimes
- Participants in these schemes use the fraudulent funds for further business investments or personal spending, harming compliant taxpayers
- The ATO aims to create fair competition by targeting these fraudulent activities
- Engaging in such schemes risks honest businesses and deprives essential community services of funding
- Businesses involved in such illegal activities are encouraged to voluntarily disclose their actions to the ATO
Source: ato.gov.au
Note that this post was (partially) written with the help of AI. It is always useful to review the original source material, and where needed to obtain (local) advice from a specialist.
