ATO targets visa holders
Editor’s note: This article describes an ATO visa-holder data-matching program announced for the 2013/14 to 2016/17 financial years. The specific program and years referred to below are now historical and retained for reference. The ATO continues to run data-matching programs of this kind, and the underlying message still stands: returning expats and visa holders should ensure their Australian tax affairs are in order. For advice on your current situation, please book a consultation.
For many Aussies who move overseas to work as an expat, the return to Australia often involves bringing back a significant other — a boyfriend or girlfriend, or perhaps even a fiancé or spouse — sometimes on a spouse/partner visa but, more often than not, on a tourist visa.
If the above pertains to you or a friend, be aware that the ATO is about to go on a fishing exercise. It has recently published a notice stating that it intends to obtain names and details of visa holders, their sponsors, and migration agents from the Department of Immigration and Border Protection.
Initially, the ATO will gather information for the financial years from 2013/14 to 2016/17, and that information will then be electronically matched with existing data the ATO holds.
And the purpose of all this? To identify visa holders who don’t comply with Australia’s tax registration, lodgement, reporting and payment obligations under taxation laws.
So what specifically are the ATO looking for? Take a look below:
- address history for visa applicants and sponsors
- contact history for visa applicants and sponsors
- all visa grants and visa grant status per point in time
- names of migration agents and visa application preparers
- address and contact history for each migration agent
- all international travel movements of visa holders
- personal details of 457 visa sponsors
- personal details of education providers where student visa holders intend to study
So if any of the above applies to you or to any expat friends returning to Australia, be sure to let them know that the ATO is on the lookout — and that they should ensure their affairs are in order.
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