Australia struggles with tax schemes

03.10.2023 The Australian Government is consulting on a bill providing for the expansion of penalties against promoters (here - persons who attract customers through proposals related to the use of gaps in tax legislation – Approx.) and increasing the powers of the Australian Taxation Office.

The current regime does not even prohibit promoters from using the text of government regulations to mislead customers about the fact that the promoted tax scheme complies with the law. Now, promoters will be responsible for this type of promotion of services even if the tax scheme used as advertising is not implemented.

The Government proposes to expand the definition of a "promoter" to include organizations that benefit from marketing or the development of a "tax optimization scheme". This change is intended to expand the definition of "promoter" to include situations where the promoter receives a less obvious, intangible or disguised benefit from the promotion of the scheme.

The bill provides for an increase in penalties imposed on companies that do not comply with the requirements of the law.

In addition, it provides for an increase in the statute of limitations for the start of the recovery procedure from four to six years.

Link to source: https://treasury.gov.au/sites/default/files/2023-09/c2023-444281-ppl-ed.pdf