ATO to report unpaid debts to credit agencies

The Mid-Year Economic and Fiscal Outlook 2016-17 (MYEFO) announced that from 1 July 2017, the ATO will disclose tax debt information of businesses who have not effectively engaged with the ATO to credit reporting bureaus.

The new measure is aimed at enhancing the integrity of the tax system and ensuring businesses who are not compliant do not gain an unfair competitive advantage over those businesses who are.

The ATO will initially pass on unpaid debts from businesses with an Australian Business Number and with a tax debt of more than $10,000 which is at least 90 days overdue.

In addition, the Government will provide $1.6 million to establish a Black Economy Taskforce to develop an innovative, whole-of-government policy response to this problem. Black economy activities disadvantage honest taxpayers, undermine the integrity of Australia’s tax and welfare systems and reduce the amount of revenue collected by governments.