From the Institute of Chartered Accountants

All motor vehicles sold, transferred or newly registered in the 2010-11 financial year with a market value of $10,000 or greater face scrutiny from the ATO.

The ATO has obtained data from the State and Territory registering bodies (e.g. Vic Roads, RTA (NSW), etc.) to identify:

• taxpayers whose expenditure is in excess of their reported income (e.g. potentially skimming some or all of their cash takings, running part of their business ‘off-the-books’, or in other ways not reporting all their income);
• businesses that sell vehicles and do not report, or under-report those sales.

The ATO is also looking to address non-compliance in the areas of:

• income tax
• superannuation
• goods and services tax
• fringe benefits tax
• luxury car tax.

For more information, talk to your Chartered Accoutant