Tax Payers Responsibility
In Australia, it is the responsibility of the tax payer or organisation to follow their legal obligations to the Australian Taxation Office (ATO). This is required by the legislation administered by the Commissioner of Taxation (‘Commissioner’), who’s role is to ensure the compliance of taxation laws with penalties and prosecutions.
The Main Taxation Offences
The main legislature concerning taxation offences are the Income Tax Assessment Act of 1936, the Taxation Administration Act of 1953, the Fringe Benefits Tax Assessment of 1986 and the Sales Tax Assessment of 1992.
More specifically, taxation offences include:
- making false and misleading statements
- failing to correctly keep accounting records
- failure to lodge taxation returns or activity statements (BAS)
- failure to pay tax or remit the tax deduction of employees
