What accounts does the ATO check for income?
- Thread starter Invest
- Start date
Declaring Income
Hi Invest,
If you don’t declare income to ATO & they do an audit they will look at all accounts.
That is unless you are using an offshore structure tied to a country that doesn’t have reciprocity with Australia. Incidentally, many would view this sort of tax haven arrangement as a scheme to avoid tax, which would cause more scrutiny.
Bottom line is if you have a good accountant, why would you not declare income???
Philip
Hi Invest,
If you don’t declare income to ATO & they do an audit they will look at all accounts.
That is unless you are using an offshore structure tied to a country that doesn’t have reciprocity with Australia. Incidentally, many would view this sort of tax haven arrangement as a scheme to avoid tax, which would cause more scrutiny.
Bottom line is if you have a good accountant, why would you not declare income???
Philip
Hubby received a letter from the ATO because he had not declared Interest, 3 years earlier. I didnt receive one. I checked what I had sent the accountant, and sure enough on the spread sheet, I had advised the exact amount of interest to be declared - half payable to me, half to hubby. OK, we should have picked up this before we signed off the returns; but it was a complex return due to the sale of an Investment Property and we just didnt pick up his ommission. We had a new accountant by now, and he sent a letter to the ATO advising that the other accountant had been advised but had ommitted to put it on the return. The ATO refunded the fine in full.
ATO is ruthless with bank interest. But they have mechanisms in place such that your TFN links to your bank accounts, so there's no escape.
I got pinged for not declaring interest. Had a bank account in trust for #1 daughter. Forgot all about it until I get the ATO "please explain" letter. She had been saving so much money that the interest added up to a tidy sum.
I paid it and asked her for reimburesment, given that it was her money, not mine. She got cranky and told me it was my account, therefore my tax bill.
Maybe I taught her too well. We split it down the middle, so we both paid for the lesson.
Other income from non PAYG, bank interest and dividends requires a bit more scrutiny by the ATO, but that's not going to stop the, finding it.
I got pinged for not declaring interest. Had a bank account in trust for #1 daughter. Forgot all about it until I get the ATO "please explain" letter. She had been saving so much money that the interest added up to a tidy sum.
I paid it and asked her for reimburesment, given that it was her money, not mine. She got cranky and told me it was my account, therefore my tax bill.
Maybe I taught her too well. We split it down the middle, so we both paid for the lesson.
Other income from non PAYG, bank interest and dividends requires a bit more scrutiny by the ATO, but that's not going to stop the, finding it.
In hubby's case, $800+ not declared - because of the sale of the IP we had money in the bank. The fine was around $60 or so, which we paid because it was due and we were awaiting ATO response from the Accountant letter. A couple of weeks later ATO sent us a cheque for reimbursement of the fine. I thought that was pretty good of them actually. And we felt good because it meant they believed us. I guess me putting the interest in my return did show it was a genuine mistake.
What would the ATO be looking for in credit cards? Do you mean other people putting money into a credit card account instead of into your savings accounts and not declaring that?
What would the ATO be looking for in credit cards? Do you mean other people putting money into a credit card account instead of into your savings accounts and not declaring that?
Using BPAY to pay into credit card accounts. Yes.
Interesting question that one! They aren't linked to your TFN.
Indeed.
Obviously the amounts we are talking about are peanuts... but still, the ATO will crack the poos if you dont even declare $1 on your interest...
Just lodge your return by etax.
The first thing it does it download all your details lodged with the ATO by various institutions that have electronic data sharing.
No excuse for forgetting that $1 of interest now.
Cheers,
Rob
Not only do they check both yours and your spouses accounts as far as I know they also ask for you passport and check RTA records..
Two easiest ways to spend large amounts of cash are on motor vehicles/bikes and o/seas holidays.
Two easiest ways to spend large amounts of cash are on motor vehicles/bikes and o/seas holidays.
Even though I don't think we earn any interest - everything's in offsets etc - I always declare about $5 of interest "just in case".
Having not done my tax myself for ... a long time *cough*
- I didn't know this function was available. Excellent!Yeah, I did drop the ball there, didn't I. I'm getting old. Slowing down.
Now that you mention it, Ive never had my accountant ask for my credit card details or transactions...
Why would he/she? If you were paying tax-deductable expenses with it you would raise the subject. If it is private expenses paid out of "tax paid" income it is of no interest.
Edit: My CCs are fully reconciled before the figures go into accountant's 'puters. They would need to be: On any day I can buy booze for private consumption, tinnies for resale or "appreciation of my clients" in December. I spend thousands in the supermarkets but my bank accounts are all in our own names: no companies or trusts. I loved Quicken as a program, being so easy, but hate the "system" which they lock you into.
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Now that you mention it, Ive never had my accountant ask for my credit card details or transactions...
Doesn't mean the tax office won't.
Australian Tax Office said:
(emphasis added)
Have some integrity. If you've earned income, declare it.
PAYG Payment Summaries, Interest , Dividends, Trust income... all of those automatically go to the ATO computers. If you lodge your tax return using E-Tax then you can download this information (except it doesn't guarantee all income, you still need to disclose any that isn't included). Accountants also have access to this information too from the ATO from a report they download from the Tax Agent Portal. I have clients who ring up querying income I have put in their return that they never told me about which the ATO has advised me of. Common one is interest being held in trust for kids.
