The Australian Taxation Office (ATO) has reported that it stopped $2.7 billion being lost to the black economy in Australia’s building and construction industry in the 2015-16 financial year.
Deputy Taxation Commissioner Deborah Jenkins said businesses in building and construction were required to lodge a Taxable Payments Reporting System (TPRS) annual report each year on any payments to contractors and sub-contractors within the industry.
“This data allows the ATO to identify contractors who fail to lodge returns or activity statements, fail to register for GST, use false ABNs or fail to report all of their income to the ATO,” Ms Jenkins said.
“The TPRS is a key weapon in fighting the black economy and helps protect the integrity of the tax system.”
She said the significant revenue increase from the building and construction industry as a result of the TPRS showed how effective it was in improving tax compliance in an industry.
“TPRS strengthens our ability to match income tax returns from contractors against what businesses report paying, allowing us to detect those trying to hide income and evade tax. The success of this system proves that if you’re trying to evade your obligations it won’t go unnoticed,” Ms Jenkins said.
She said that following a recommendation from the Black Economy Taskforce, the TPRS had now been extended to cleaning, courier, road freight, information technology, security, investigation and surveillance services — industries identified as high risk for black economy activity.
