New enforcement measures to entangle Black Economy participants

SYDNEY, 9 May 2018: Last night’s Federal Budget saw more measures being announced to target the Black Economy. 

“The Federal government will introduce three new key measures targeting Black Economy activities” said The Tax Institute’s Senior Tax Counsel Professor Bob Deutsch. 

These include: 

• limiting cash payments within Australia to $10,000;
• disallowing deductions to businesses for payments to employees where PAYG could have been withheld and payments to contractors where an ABN is not provided and the business does not withhold any tax; and
• expanding the Taxable Payments Reporting system to cover contractor payments in the security providers and investigation services industry, road freight transport and computer system design and related services industry. 

These measures will be reinforced by the $318 million being given to the ATO over four years to implement new strategies targeting the Black Economy and phoenixing activities. 

“It is expected that the Government’s revenue bottom line will be better off by $3 billion over the forward estimates period and there will be an extra $2.5 billion in underlying cash receipts. These numbers suggest some robust enforcement from the ATO is coming to the Black Economy. Taxpayers need to ensure they are fully compliant with the law or they may find themselves entangled in these enforcement strategies,” said Professor Deutsch. 

ENDS

For more information, please contact: Stephanie Conway, Media Relations: 02 8223 0011. 

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