ATO and AFP crack down on dodgy businesses avoiding tax using illegal software
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Retailers raided ‘dubious’ sales software used to evade tax: ‘$60 steak presented as a $10 bowl of fries’
- A series of dubious businesses were caught using software to avoid paying taxes
- ATO and AFP have burst 35 companies in five states under repression
- Businesses were caught deliberately putting the wrong menu items into the system
A number of dodgy companies have been caught using software to avoid paying taxes.
The Australian Revenue Office and Australian Federal Police arrested 35 companies in Victoria, NSW, Queensland, Western Australia and Tasmania.
They have been caught supplying and using illegal electronic sales suppression tools so they can keep more of their profits and give less to the ATO.
ATO deputy commissioner John Ford said some companies had been deliberately putting the wrong orders into the software.
A number of dubious companies have been caught using software to avoid paying taxes (file image)
“So what could happen is the customer orders a $60 steak and a $100 bottle of wine and the ESS tool then passes it through the point-of-sale system as a $10 bowl of fries and a $4 bottle of soda,” he said. he said.
The investigations were timed to coincide with search and seizure operations in the United Kingdom and the United States.
Ford said it has been illegal to produce, supply, possess, use or promote ESS tools or software in Australia since October 2018.
“These dubious sales suppression tools allow retailers to keep a separate set of books and launder the money in a single transaction. They hide and transfer this income anonymously, sometimes abroad,” he said.
The ATO said its officials worked closely with their counterparts at Her Majesty’s Revenue and Customs Service (HMRC) in the UK and the Internal Revenue Service (IRS) in the US as part of an investigation. on the use of tax evasion technology.
The Australian Revenue Office and Australian Federal Police arrested 35 companies in Victoria, NSW, Queensland, Western Australia and Tasmania.
Ford said an ESST-enabled point-of-sale system can permanently delete transactions, resequence transactions, reduce sale values and misrepresent transactions to produce false records.
“Adding ESST to your point-of-sale system is a deliberate and shady act designed solely to underreport income and avoid tax liability,” he said.
‘It is illegal and will not be tolerated here in Australia. Companies using or promoting this technology are effectively stealing from the Australian community, and that’s just not right.”