ATO targets contractors who under-report income

ATO targets contractors who under-report income

More than 158,000 businesses have now reported all their payments made to contractors in the 2019–2020 year, and the ATO is using its Taxable Payments Reporting System (TPRS) to make sure the payments, totalling more than $172 billion, have been properly declared by both payers and recipients.

The TPRS captures data about contractors who have performed services including couriering (including food delivery), cleaning, building and construction, road freight, information technology, security, investigation and surveillance services.

The ATO is now using this data to contact contractors or their tax agents to ensure that they have declared all of their income, including any from part-time work, and is checking the GST registration status and Australian Business Numbers (ABNs) of contractors that are businesses to ensure their relevant obligations are met.

The ATO matches the contractor information provided by businesses in their taxable payments annual report (TPAR) to the figures in contractors’ own tax returns. Where discrepancies between business reports and contractor returns are identified, the ATO will send the contractor a letter in the first instance, prompting them to explain.

Tip: If you’ve forgotten to include income from contracting services in your tax return, an amendment can still be lodged to correct the mistake. Where we lodged your initial return as your tax agent, we can also complete an amendment to the return on your behalf – contact us today to find out more.

While it appears that the ATO won’t initially apply penalties or interest in relation to under-reported contracting income, contractors will still need to pay any additional tax owed, and it’s likely that people who ignore a letter from the ATO and fail to lodge an amended tax return will face penalties at a future date.