ATO clamps down on super rich tax dodge

THE taxman has checked up on more than 3000 of the super rich it says dodged more than $1.3 billion in tax last year.

So far, it says it has recouped half that money.

The Australian Taxation Office said that in 2013-14 it did compliance checks on 2440 of the nation’s 90,000 “wealthy” (those who control assets of $5-30 million).

It identified over $300 million in untaxed liabilities and recovered $105 million.

It also did compliance checks on about 800 of the nation’s 2800 “highly wealthy” people (those who control assets of more than $30 million).

The ATO identified about $1 billion in untaxed liabilities and recovered $551 million.

It says the nation’s wealthy, who are linked to about 630,000 companies, superfunds and trusts, paid more than $30 billion in income tax.

But it says a minority of the super rich still try to avoid paying their fair share of tax.

The ATO says the most common breaches are the aggressive use of complex trust arrangements, incorrect application of capital gains tax provisions, and mixing of business and private expenditure.

Where structures and arrangements are complex, “the issues often involve grey areas” of the law, the ATO says.

Deputy Commissioner Michael Cranston said the ATO’s job was to ensure that all taxpayers — be they large corporations, small businesses, or company chief executives — paid their fair share of tax,

Mr Cranston said there was nowhere to hide.

“We’re happy to say that in the majority of cases, these individuals and their associated entities pay their fair share of tax,” Mr Cranston said.

“However, some of these wealthy individuals try to avoid paying their fair share.

“We see examples of taxpayers hiding income in offshore accounts and trust funds as well as establishing complex structures to avoid paying tax.

“In response, we undertake a range of intelligence activities to detect noncompliance, including data-matching and risk analysis, and undertake compliance activities where necessary,” Mr Cranston said.

The Herald Sun revealed last month that the tax office was poised to exchange with Swiss officials information relating to five super-wealthy Australians who are believed to be hiding cash in the notorious tax haven.

The tax office also revealed it had received a disk from an informer revealing the names of up to 120 other Australians with secret Swiss accounts.