Our team has compiled a collection of critical accounting notes and updates from the Australian Taxation Office (ATO) for the month of April. These insights can provide valuable guidance in shaping your business strategy for the next few months. By staying informed about the latest developments, you can make well-informed decisions and take proactive measures to improve your business operations.

Tax Tips & Alerts

ATO data-matching program: residential investment property loans

The Australian Taxation Office (ATO) has announced the implementation of a data-matching program for the 2021-22 to 2025-26 financial years. As part of this initiative, the ATO will collect data on residential investment property loans from authorised financial institutions, covering around 1.7 million property investors per year. The data collected will include client identification details such as names, addresses, phone numbers, and dates of birth, as well as account details like account numbers, BSBs, balances, and start and end dates. Additionally, the program will collect transaction details such as transaction dates and amounts, as well as property details like addresses. The ATO has published a list of 17 authorised financial institutions on its website.

ATO data matching program: ride-sourcing data
According to recent announcements from the Australian Taxation Office (ATO), ride-sourcing data will be acquired during the 2022-23 financial year to detect potential ride-sourcing service providers. The data collected will include identification details such as driver identifiers, ABNs, names, birth dates, mobile phone numbers, email addresses, and addresses, as well as transaction details including bank account information, aggregated payment details, gross fares, net amounts paid to drivers, and all other income subject to GST. The ATO has estimated that records related to approximately 200,000 individuals will be obtained annually.
ATO: Companies with an overdue debt
The Australian Taxation Office (ATO) has issued a reminder that if a company has an overdue debt with the ATO and fails to pay the amount owed or arrange other payment options, the ATO may issue a Director Penalty Notice (DPN). This notice makes the company director personally liable if the company has failed to meet its pay as you go withholding, GST, and superannuation guarantee charge obligations. The ATO recommends that companies experiencing financial difficulties or needing more time to pay their debts should contact the ATO to discuss their situation or arrange a payment plan.

What's New

ATO PAYGW prefill is coming to activity statements
From July 2023, the ATO will prefill the PAYG withholding amounts in the activity statements in ATO online, as employers now report their pay as you go (PAYG) withholding information to the ATO each time they pay their employees using Single Touch Payroll (STP). ATO PAYG withholding prefill will be available for small and medium employers from the:
  • July activity statement for monthly PAYG withholders
  • September activity statement for quarterly PAYG withholders.
The ATO will use the amounts you report in STP to prefill labels W1 and W2:
  • Label W1: Total salary, wages and other payments
  • Label W2: Amount withheld from payments shown at W1.
When preparing your activity statements, you’ll typically only need to adjust prefilled amounts if they differ from your records. This is because most Pay As You Go (PAYG) withholding is now reported through Single Touch Payroll (STP). However, please note that there may be some exceptions. Once you’ve made any necessary adjustments, you can complete any remaining labels on your activity statement before lodging it and making payments (if applicable), following the same process as before.

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