Addressing and influencing taxpayer behaviour to maximise voluntary compliance and minimise GST gap remains a priority. Taxpayer actions which impact the GST gap continue to range in severity from honest reporting errors to deliberate non-compliance and include:
- non-reporting of GST
- under-reporting of GST
- over-claiming of refunds
- non-payment of GST liabilities.
Our compliance programs therefore provide a balance of prevention, early engagement and assurance activities and target higher-risk taxpayers and industries.
We continue our focus on managing GST compliance risks and behaviours impacting the integrity of the GST. Contemporary technology continues to strengthen our ability to manage GST risks including fraud by:
- improving our risk identification process with earlier detection techniques, enabling us to apply differentiated and tailored treatment strategies
- delivering an automated solution to streamline processes related to managing high-risk refunds
- providing staff with a more holistic view of GST lodgment to support a better client experience when engaging with clients.
To ensure large businesses pay the right amount of GST and to reduce the gap, we have a combination of one-to-one and one-to-many approaches. These include our justified trust assurance programs and advice and guidance strategies. We are also working with large businesses to introduce supplementary annual GST reporting on their ongoing investment in GST compliance. The new annual return will help ensure the ATO can maintain assurance over taxpayers and prioritise compliance resources.
Where a BAS lodged online contains an identifiable or likely reporting error, nudge messaging recommending clients check their BAS before lodging their refund is generated. Consultation and initiatives to provide a digitalised future supporting small business is a key focus area of the ATO corporate plan 2024–25. This encourages enhanced integration that supports high-quality, system-generated tax guidance to:
- provide certainty, increasing confidence
- minimise errors
- promote right-time reporting and payment.
This work is aligned to the Organisation for Economic Co-operation and Development (OECD) Tax Administration 3.0 vision and the ATO Digital Strategy.
We prevent compliance issues before they arise, by supporting those who want to do the right thing and helping them reduce mistakes through:
- reminders
- nudges
- improved information on ato.gov.au
- public advice and guidance.
At the same time, we take a firmer approach with those we detect deliberately evading their GST and other tax obligations.
We will continue to work towards closing the gap by:
- building trust and confidence within the community by implementing strategies under the GST Compliance Program
- achieving GST compliance outcomes from other ATO government funded programs including the Shadow Economy, Serious Financial Crime and Phoenix taskforces.
Australian tax gaps – overview provides information on the concept of tax gaps, including why and how we measure them, and a summary of the latest available tax gap data.