From the ATO website:
“Taxpayers with undeclared offshore assets or income are running out of time and need to act now if they want to take advantage of the rare opportunity provided by the ATO’s offshore voluntary disclosure initiative, Project DO IT (Disclose Offshore Income Today).
Project DO IT is an initiative unlikely to be repeated. Industry experts are saying that ’you need to come forward now’ if you could potentially benefit from Project DO IT.
Project DO IT allows eligible taxpayers to come forward and voluntarily disclose unreported foreign income and assets.
Announced in March 2014 by the Commissioner, the Project DO IT initiative covers amounts not reported or incorrectly reported in tax returns, including:
foreign income or a transaction with an offshore structure
deductions relating to foreign income that have been claimed incorrectly
capital gains in respect of foreign assets or Australian assets transferred offshore
income from an offshore entity that is taxable in your hands
Offshore deductions relating to domestic income.
We encourage taxpayers with undeclared offshore assets and income to come forward ahead of a global crackdown on people using international tax havens. With the increased global exchange of financial information it is almost certain that taxpayers doing the wrong thing with their international assets will be caught.”
The ATO website also highlights the increasing exchange of information between taxing authorities around the world, particularly between countries with mutual exchange of information provisions in Tax Treaties.
If you are subject to tax in Australia and have income from overseas that has not been disclosed to the ATO previously please feel able to contact GM Tax to discuss how we can assist with your submission to the Tax Office. Complete the enquiry form on this page for a free no obligation initial discussion with us.