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Several hard facts show why change is needed at public service's highest levels
The Australian Tax Office (ATO) is contacting workers amid concerns $172 billion in contractor income hasn’t been properly declared.
Businesses that use contractors in the road freight, cleaning, courier, building and construction, information technology, security, investigation or surveillance services are required to tell the ATO of payments made to contractors.
ATO calling workers over $172 billion unreported income
Hany Mina, the sole director and controlling mind of Logic Accountants & Tax Professionals Pty Ltd, first came under ATO scrutiny in 2011 before he was referred on to the Tax Practitioners Board in 2019 for investigation.
In 2009, 625 of his 646 clients audited by the ATO required adjustments to be made to their tax returns due to incorrectly made spouse offset amendments and work-related expenses.
He also failed to ensure that Logic Accountants complied with employee superannuation guarantee obligations and PAYG withholding obligations.
In his defence, Mr Mina told the Administrative Appeals Tribunal that there were “an extraordinary constellation of personal factors” that led to his indiscretions, including the breakdown of his marriage, concerns over his children’s health, the death of his father, and his declining mental and physical health.
However, AAT member Dominique Grigg found that despite Mr Mina’s assertions, there was no correlation between his personal circumstances and his conduct, including how he was able to prepare and lodge clients’ tax returns and BAS on time over the years.
Ms Grigg also found that Mr Mina still failed to understand the required nexus for work-related expense claims or the need to substantiate the claims.
“Mr Mina said he has no control over whether a client has lied and had no power to verify a client’s instructions,” Ms Grigg said.
“Mr Mina rejected the notion that it was tax agent error. Mr Mina, even now, takes no responsibility for the incorrect ITRs (income tax returns) he lodged on his clients’ behalf.”
In affirming the TPB’s decision to deregister and ban Mr Mina for two years, Ms Grigg noted that compliance with personal tax obligations was a fundamental priority for tax agents.
“While such an infraction may seem minor for a lay person, more is expected of a registered tax agent,” Ms Grigg said.
“What if every taxpayer decided a little bit late was alright or that it was acceptable to wait for the ATO to send reminders and letters of demand? What a drain that would be on the ATO’s resources and the Australian economy.
“The tribunal finds Mr Mina’s downplaying of the importance of complying with due dates in relation to his personal tax obligations alarming, disrespectful of the Australian public, and cavalier.”
Sydney accountant banned over ‘cavalier’ approach to personal tax obligations
S&T Income Tax Aid Specialists’ sole director, Sarwat McGuid, whose own registration has been terminated for “threatening, obstructive and unprofessional” conduct towards ATO and TPB officers, was found to have incorrectly lodged income tax returns on behalf of his clients.
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A former Collins Street tax accountant who stole more than $220,000 from two long-term clients has been handed a community corrections order.
David Jacobs, 72, stole $222,533 between May 2013 and November 2016 from two men after his client base evaporated as more people began completing their own tax returns online.
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Study co-author Dr John Minas, Adjunct Research Fellow at Griffith’s Law Futures Centresays the study’s findings could be a game-changer in reducing Australia’s tax system complexity.
“The Henry Tax Review highlighted that rules around tax deductions are complicated. There is also the added compliance burden of keeping receipts and records,’’ he said.
The study used a mathematical optimisation model and the Australian Tax Office’s 2017-2018 individual tax return dataset to test different policy reform proposals.
Simple change could eliminate the need for work tax receipts
Veteran businessman John Dahlsen has had the courage to speak out against the ATO’s grilling of Australia’s top 500 private firms. One of Australia’s top 500 private companies has had the courage to break silence and reveal that the information the Australian Taxation Office is demanding about its management practices, executives, strategies etc will require a thousand-page answer.
Breaking the silence on tax office inquisition of private companies