The Australian Taxation Office will be in Busselton on Tuesday, September 18 talking to small businesses to ensure they have the support they need to get their tax and super right.
Businesses are invited to attend a one-hour information session from 11am to 12pm and a record keeping information session at 12.15pm to 1.15pm, to be held at The Abbey Beach Resort.
ATO assistant commissioner Matthew Bambrick said they would be here to help businesses manage their tax and super correctly.
The information sessions come ahead of the ATO’s mobile business visits to businesses in the Busselton area over the coming weeks.
Mr Bambrick said the main issues they saw were basic record keeping, outstanding lodgements and unpaid super guarantee or wages.
He said they understood people were busy and most businesses met their obligations, but there was a difference between needing help, making a mistake and deliberate cover-ups.
“Where we are concerned that a business is deliberately doing the wrong thing, we have an obligation to the community to investigate further,” he said.
“It’s also interesting that while we’re out in the community people are willing to tell us about others not doing the right thing, including paying cash wages and not recording all sales.
“The community as a whole is concerned and want those who try to seek an unfair advantage to be held accountable.”
ATO research found around 10 per cent of businesses operated solely in cash. Cash-only businesses raised a red flag with the ATO that income may not be accurately reported.
In the first six months of 2017-18, the ATO raised $143 million in tax liabilities and penalties from its cash and hidden economy compliance activities.
The ATO uses a range of measures to prevent, detect and deter tax evasion including data matching, small business benchmarking, reviews and audits.
To register for an information session visit ato.gov.au/protectinghonestbusiness.