Treasury has released a consultation paper on the options open to the Australian Taxation Office (ATO) to clamp down on the ‘sharing economy’ such as Uber and AirBnB.
Announced by the Assistant Minister for Treasury and Finance, Senator Zed Seselja, the paper Tackling the black economy: A sharing economy reporting regime looks at ways of standardising a reporting format for platforms and reducing red tape for the sellers.
According to Senator Seselja, more and more Australians were making use of the choice provided by the platforms and the ‘sharing economy’ was growing significantly.
“But as it grows, there is a risk that some individuals are not reporting their full income and avoiding the right amount of tax,” Senator Seselja said.
“We are committed to making sure people pay their fair share.”
He said the ATO was already working with a number of organisations in the ride-sharing and accommodation-sharing sectors and had seen excellent results to date.
He said the new paper raised a number of additional reforms.
Senator Seselja said the paper was another step towards implementing a response to the Black Economy Taskforce’s final report which highlighted the harm the black economy was causing to businesses and the community by undermining the integrity of the Australian tax system.
He said it created an uneven playing field for the majority of small businesses doing the right thing.
Comments on Treasury’s 12-page paper will be received until 22 February and the paper can be accessed at this PS News link.
