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| Michael D’Ascenzo |
The Commissioner for Taxation, Michael D’Ascenzo, has confirmed that the Australian Taxation Office (ATO) will be taking a closer look at superannuation in an effort to detect any fallout from the global financial crisis, including the non-payment of the superannuation guarantee.
D’Ascenzo told an industry conference late last week that the ATO was anticipating “that some employers will seek ways to circumvent superannuation guarantee payments”.
He said this was also often an outcome of phoenix activities.
“In order to guard against this, we are visiting some 8,000 employers who have been identified as being high risk,” D’Ascenzo said. “As well as their tax issues, we will be providing them with information about their superannuation obligations and taking corrective action where necessary.”
The Tax Commissioner also sought to remind auditors to take care with contravention reports, in the knowledge that the ATO would also take into account individual circumstances in deciding its response.
“We are reviewing and auditing around 900 approved auditors this year. We have referred 27 to their professional associations and disqualified three approved auditors — and are likely to disqualify another six,” D’Ascenzo said.
He said the ATO was continuing to detect, and respond to, an increasing number of identified illegal early release schemes.
“We have taken immediate action against these funds. For example, we have excluded them from our super fund lookup tool, which effectively stops rollover of more retirement benefits into the fund. We also freeze bank accounts associated with these illegal arrangements,” the Tax Commissioner said.
