The ATO will be notifying all tax agents in early December 2019 regarding which of their clients will be coming under review by the expansion of its Tax Avoidance Task Force.
Affected taxpayers include any private wealth groups that control more than $5 million in wealth or have more than $10 million in turnover. Essentially, the ATO has:
- expanded its Top 320 program to be a Top 500 program, focusing on the 500 largest private wealth groups in Australia
- introduced a new high wealth private groups program focused on private groups with more than $50 million in wealth
- introduced a new medium and emerging private groups program focused on private groups with more than $5 million in wealth.
The attached article prepared by Mark West, Lyndon Garbutt, Michael McLaughlin and Alex Whitney provides guidance on what steps tax agents and affected private wealth groups should be taking if they receive notification letters.
To access this document, please click: Increased ATO focus on Private Wealth Groups