Our focus
Our areas of focus are determined by what we are seeing in our audits, coupled with data matching and resources to find businesses that are not correctly registered or are operating outside of the tax and super systems.
Our targeted treatment approaches will vary and include the following.
Education and awareness activities
We want to help small businesses get it right. We aim to:
- provide education and tailored support to address common errors
- provide free, self-paced courses on essentials to strengthen your small businessExternal Link
- promote the benefits of more regular reporting and payment of tax obligations, to support businesses to manage their cashflow
- work in partnership with professional and industry associations
- undertake early debt intervention where we see debt increasing or taxpayers going off track
- send prompt or reminder messages
- provide industry specific education and messaging to keep small businesses on track
- publish relevant information on
- ato.gov.au website
- Small business newsroom
- Tax professionals newsroom
- ATO webinarsExternal Link and other masterclasses.
Help and correction activities
If we find a concern, we will contact the small business owners tax professional (or small business owner if they don't use an agent) for more information or clarification. This contact may be by:
- pre-issue contact to correct any claims before a refund is released
- phone calls direct to the small business owner's tax professional (or small business owner if they don't use an agent)
- issuing direct letters or emails to the small business owner's tax professional (or small business owner if they don't use an agent) on specific issues
- moving small businesses to monthly BAS reporting, rather than quarterly to get them back on track.
Firmer action
If we find a small business is deliberately avoiding us or their obligations, we take firm action to ensure that the correct amount of tax is paid. These may include:
- reviews or audits
- penalties (up to 75%) and interest on any unpaid tax, plus debt collection activities
- applying administrative penalties, or seeking the application of civil or criminal sanctions in more serious cases.