Login
iscover
H&R Block has warned property owners and renters that the ATO is watching more closely to ensure taxpayers are correctly meeting their obligations in relation to property transactions.
Newsletter
ATO to target property dealings
17 December 2015
•
4 minute read
According to the tax specialists, the tax office has launched a program to obtain details of all taxpayers’ property transactions from as far back as 1985 to match against information they already hold to ensure taxpayers are correctly meeting all tax and other obligations in relation to property dealings.
You’re out of free articles for this month
To continue reading the rest of this article, please log in.
Create free account to get unlimited news articles and more!
Among the haul of information the ATO is set to obtain over the next few months are the names of landlords, lease periods, amounts of rental bond, rents payable, dates of property transfers, names of transferors and transferees and valuation details.
All of that information – more than 30 million records – will then be matched with the information the ATO already holds on 11.3 million individuals, including tax return data disclosed by those taxpayers over the years, to ensure taxpayers are correctly meeting their tax and other obligations in relation to property dealings, H&R Block said.
Mark Chapman, director of tax communications at the tax specialists, said the huge data haul has implications for everyone who has bought, sold or rented out a property in the past 30 years.
“If taxpayers are nervous that they might have under-declared some income or gains, or over-claimed expenses, they should be heading down to their nearest tax agent to get a tax ‘health-check’ on any property dealings,” Mr Chapman said.
“The ATO can build a complete picture of all taxpayers’ property-related transactions over that period, and without doubt if they find discrepancies, they’ll be coming to talk to them. Better to get in first and make a voluntary disclosure. That way penalties can be avoided if an audit takes place."
==
==
You need to be a member to post comments. Become a member for free today!
