Does ATO data matching actually work or is it all mostly bluff to scare people into declaring everything ?
I declare everything so have nothing to worry about but I know someone who has not declared any property income on a place rented out for over 10 years through a real estate agent, the property has no debt. So far they have gotten away with it & their plan is to move back into the property for a few years then sell it capital gains tax free, which I am sure they will get away with as well since the property was never declared as an investment property. So I do not have much faith in the ability of the ATO to detect evasion of this sort.
I declare everything so have nothing to worry about but I know someone who has not declared any property income on a place rented out for over 10 years through a real estate agent, the property has no debt. So far they have gotten away with it & their plan is to move back into the property for a few years then sell it capital gains tax free, which I am sure they will get away with as well since the property was never declared as an investment property. So I do not have much faith in the ability of the ATO to detect evasion of this sort.