The Australian Taxation Office’s (ATO) Tax Integrity Centre received a record-breaking number of tip-offs in the first three months of this financial year, responding to 15,000 dob-ins in the quarter.
The ATO said the top categories of tip-offs involved not declaring income; demanding cash payments or paying workers ‘cash in hand’; lifestyle not appearing to match income level; and not reporting sales.
Assistant Taxation Commissioner, Peter Holt said people were “sick and tired of this kind of dodgy behaviour”.
“Running a small business can be a really tough gig, and when dishonest competitors are cheating the tax system by operating off the books, it’s really unfair and makes it even harder to succeed. It’s also effectively stealing from the community,” Mr Holt said.
“It’s hardly surprising that so many people have tipped us off about this kind of behaviour so we can investigate and keep things fair for everyone.”
He said ATO figures showed that cafés and restaurants topped the list in terms of the total number of tip-offs received.
“The proof is in the pudding. Our risk indicators tell us that there is a black economy problem in the café and restaurant industry and the fact that tip-offs about this industry top our list tells us that there is still more work to be done,” Mr Holt said.
He said that in one day in August, the ATO’s Tax Integrity Centre received almost 300 tip-offs.
Tip-offs from NSW topped the ATO’s list, closely followed by Victoria and Queensland.
“The ATO has a specialist team that looks at each and every tip-off, regardless of whether they are received anonymously or not,” Mr Holt said.
“However, 53 per cent of people who provided a tip-off in the first quarter of 2019-20 provided their contact details, which is a significant increase when compared to the same quarter in the previous year,” he said.
