ATO will once again lunch its data matching program in association with home affairs to investigate the fraud by visa holders. The data will be collected from the visas granted in the period 2020–21 to 2022–23 financial years which will be assisting on find out the eligibility for the government’s novel coronavirus (COVID-19) economic response, and JobKeeper measure.
ATO is investigating the travelers, workers, students, and migrants whether they are fulfilling the conditions to stay in Australia related to the tax and superannuation systems. ATO believes that it will help to ensure appropriate taxation treatment is being applied by employers of visa holders including registration, lodgment, reporting and payment obligations for pay as you go (PAYG) withholding, fringe benefits tax, and super guarantee. They will also be identifying taxpayers who incorrectly claim Australian residency in their income tax returns for financial gain and incorrect tax refund. Moreover, they will investigate the inappropriate use of the Australian Business Number (ABN) by visa holders.
Does it affect International Students?
Since they are doing an audit with the income and tax of visa holders, they will be investigating international students as well and they have certain conditions to fulfill. Students have the working right of 40 hours fortnightly and full time in break and holiday. This investigation allows the ATO to find out if their visa requirements are complied with by the foreign students. They verify their profits against their rights to work.
Does it affect the Sponsored Visa holders?
Yes, The same applies to employer-sponsored visas to ensure that all
commitments, such as minimum wage rates and taxes and super, are fulfilled.
As mentioned by the ATO, approximately 10 million visa holders will be affected by this data matching program. ATO will obtain the visa data from the Home Affairs database and compare it with the taxpayer activities. This visa data-matching project of the Australian Taxation Office (ATO) has been running since 2009.
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