Motor Vehicle Data Matching Expanding

• The Tax Office has obtained data from various state and territory motor vehicle registering authorities in order to identify motor vehicle retailers who do work off the books in a bid to hide their true incomes and avoid paying tax.
  
• The data collected will also be used to address the FBT non-compliance for cars that are available to employees for private use.
  
• The Data matching activities further attempt to expose taxpayers who seek to avoid paying luxury car tax.
  
• The data obtained during the 2011 income year covers all passenger and four wheel drive vehicles with a value of $10,000 or more.
  
• The data will be matched against taxpayers’ records and industry benchmarks. Businesses that report amounts outside these benchmarks will be closely scrutinised.
  
• The objective of the Tax Office’s motor vehicle data matching project is to:
  
  
  §         Identify businesses participating in the cash economy i.e. those selling more motor vehicles than they are reporting to the Tax Office;
  §         Identify taxpayers whose expenditure is in excess of their reported income; and
  §         Conduct appropriate compliance activities.
  
  
• For more information on data matching, visit the Tax Office website at http://www.ato.gov.au