Assistant commissioner Matthew Bambrick said the program is aimed at protecting honest businesses from unfair competition.
“Honest businesses can face unfair tax competition when competitors don’t lodge, don’t report all of their income, pay cash wages without properly accounting for them or don’t contribute super for their staff,” he said.
“In all, we’ll be visiting around 250 businesses in the Gold Coast to talk about a range of topics including business registration, record-keeping, superannuation and lodgement.”
Mr Bambrick said the program was a great way to let the community see the work the ATO is doing to support and protect honest businesses.
“So far we have met with over 650 businesses in local community activities in Sydney, Melbourne and Adelaide,” Mr Bambrick said.
“The feedback we’ve gotten about the visits has been positive and in many cases we’ve been able to help businesses get back on track in meeting their tax and super obligations.”
He added: “Where taxpayers are unwilling to work with us or continue to cause us concern, we will undertake further investigation. In Sydney and Melbourne, for example, we have now moved to auditing businesses that didn’t want to work with us.”
