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The ATO will share people’s bank account details with other governments and automatically detect overseas bank accounts to reveal tax evasion
In a move aimed to find taxpayers who do not declare income or savings in different countries, the ATO will join tax departments world-wide to share taxpayers’ overseas bank account details.
The ATO will automatically share information about individuals’ overseas bank accounts, beginning with the US but set to include dozens of other nations.
According to the ATO,
Details of over 30,000 financial accounts worth over $5 billion are being provided to the US…”
The biggest impact of this global cooperation among tax departments is that Aussies with assets or income overseas will need to be even more careful about correctly declaring it on their Australian tax returns (and overseas tax returns, in some cases).
In return the ATO will receive data from the IRS about Australians with financial accounts in the US and will use that data to detect cases of undeclared offshore income and tax evasion.”
“The ATO is committed to ensuring that taxpayers are disclosing their offshore income…”
This new move by the ATO should not affect most taxpayers, but if you have savings in an overseas bank or you earn additional income in other countries, you’ll need to be careful that you properly claim your assets and income (including interest on overseas bank savings) on your ATO tax return.
The ATO collects and analyses much more data about Australians’ financial affairs than most Australians realise. This new automated collection of data about Australians’ bank accounts stretches the ATO’s reach across international borders.
Not sure what you have to claim on your tax return? Talk to a tax agent.
(The accountants and tax agents at etax.com.au advise thousands of taxpayers about how to maximise tax benefits while staying inside ATO rules and avoiding tax trouble.)
