Often, in my profession, I get asked ‘How would they know?’
My immediate response is, ‘The question is not how will they know. The question is, what if they know?’.
As this ball tampering saga unfolds with drastic implications on those who were involved and flow through implications on those who weren’t (family, team, coach, the list goes on..), it is a staggering reminder to us on how life unfolds ‘when you get caught out breaking the rules’.
No less in the game of tax, as in the game of cricket, do we have a number of cameras looking at us from all angles, using smart eyes and technology to check if we are playing our game by the rules. ATO has been quite vocal in using increasingly large sources of information with extremely smart super computers to ‘catch us out’.
| Third-party data sources | Information provided |
|---|---|
| Banks, financial institutions and investment bodies | Investment income |
| Employers | Payments to employees and contractors |
| State and territory motor vehicle registering bodies | Motor vehicles sold, transferred or newly registered |
| State and territory title offices and revenue agencies | Sales and other transfers of real property |
| Government bodies | Pensions, benefits, rebates, taxable grants and other payments |
| Australian Transaction Reports and Analysis Centre (AUSTRAC) and our international treaty partners | Foreign source income |
| Online selling platforms | Quantity and value of online sales |
| Sharing economy facilitators | Payments to participants |
| Financial institutions providing merchant facilities and administrators of specialised payment systems | Electronic payments processed for business including total credit and debit card payments received |
| Stock exchanges and share registries | Share transactions |
| Businesses in the building and construction industry | Payments made for building and construction services |
| Health insurers | Confirmation of health insurance cover and premiums paid |
Table : Information ATO receives from third-party sources (source www.ato.gov.au )
Think of a place they couldn’t have reached, and you would probably find it listed in the table above. Think of the ripples it would create, ‘if they know’, and most likely you would find saying to yourself ‘it’s just not worth it’. While we baulk at our cricketers for doing the wrong things, we need to ensure we don’t do the same in the game of tax.
It’s important to distinguish between tax minimisation and tax avoidance. Metaphorically speaking, it’s ok to reverse swing the ball, or to throw a googlie. It is however against the rules to use a bit of a sand paper on the ball, to make that happen.
A placard above the white board in my meeting room says;
Don’t be casual
Lest you might be the casualty!