Attention all Uber drivers – the Australian Tax Office has its bloody eye on ya.
The ATO is concerned that many workers and business owners are moonlighting as Uber drivers – and similar roles in the sharing economy – and not paying their proper share of tax. As a result, they will be forcing banks to hand over deets about customers who have been using the service.
The Courier-Mail suggests that they have info that a number of public servants use the service on their days off, which shouldn’t really be a surprise to anyone – a huge proportion of Uber drivers do not do it as their primary or only job.
Last year, the ATO warned drivers that those who did not properly declare their income from sharing economy endeavours would be facing an audit.
The data we acquire will be electronically matched with certain sections of ATO data holdings to identify taxpayers. The purpose of this data matching program is to ensure that taxpayers are correctly meeting their taxation obligations in relation to ride-sourcing payments. These obligations may include: registration, lodgement, reporting and payment responsibilities.
If you’re an Uber driver, you’re providing a taxi service – so you need to have registered for an ABN, be registered for GST and be collecting GST on each ride.
So if you’ve been living high on the sharing economy teat without paying your dues, you’ll prob be getting a buzz from the ATO soon.
Source: Courier-Mail.
Photo: Getty Images.
