The Australian Taxation Office (ATO) announced it raided 35 properties across the country, in a crackdown on companies suspected of using technology to hide sales and avoid taxes,
Key points:
- 35 premises have been raided by the ATO and AFP members suspected of supplying or using technology for the purpose of evading taxes
- Business transactions can be permanently deleted, reduced in value, or misrepresented using Electronic sales suppression tools (ESST)
- It is not clear whether anyone has been charged, but the ATO is continuing its investigation
It has been reported by the Australian Taxation Office that the raids were conducted in New South Wales, Victoria, Western Australia, Queensland, and Tasmania.
Many of the businesses raided by the ATO operate in the hospitality industry.
There have been no charges filed as of yet.
The Australian Federal Police (AFP) assisted the ATO agents in raiding the properties, according to the ATO.
Electronic sales suppression tools (ESST) are suspected to be used or supplied by businesses under investigation.
Suspect businesses use ESST to remove business transactions permanently, decrease sales values, or misrepresent transactions in other ways.
As a result, businesses can declare a lower profit and illegally pay lower tax.
“For example”, he explained, “the customer may order a $60 steak and a $100 bottle of wine.
It is then processed through the ESS tool as a bowl of chips and a bottle of soft drink for the price of $10 and $4, respectively”.
“The act of selling ESST in Australia, and using it, is illegal” said Mr Ford.
” It is a deliberate and underhanded act intended solely to conceal income and avoid paying tax.”
Australia does not tolerate this practice, as it is illegal.
This technology is effectively being used by businesses to steal from the Australian community, and that is simply unacceptable.
“Investigations are ongoing,” according to a statement by the ATO regarding the raids. “A significant amount of information [has] been gathered,”
Additionally, it stated that legal proceedings are expected in response to the raids.
According to Mr Ford, we have seen ESST appear in hardware connected to point-of-sale systems, in cloud-based software, and in software which has been integrated directly with the hardware.
As part of a global endeavour to investigate ESST, the ATO conducted the raids.
We worked closely with our counterparts in the United Kingdom and the United States on this project.
