Summary
- Rod Douglass is an IT contractor in his late 50s. He was based in Perth working in the mining sector. Every year he put in his tax returns declaring all his income and paying the required tax.
- In July 2015 the ATO sent him a letter accusing him of committing a ‘blameworthy act or omission’ where he avoided tax due to ‘fraud or evasion’.
- Read the letter. If you can understand this, well good luck!
- The ATO backdated a tax claim against Rod to 2006, and with penalties and interest demanded $440,000.
- We looked at Rod’s case and said the ATO were totally wrong.
- We worked with Rod through the ATO audit process. (There’s a mess!)
- We went to the Inspector-General of Taxation
- Eventually we organised the defence of Rod in Court.
- In November 2016 the ATO withdrew, stating under a Court Order that “…the opinion as to fraud or evasion was incorrectly formed”.
Rod Douglass says “If it hadn’t been for Self-Employed Australia, I would have been eaten alive by the ATO”. And “I did nothing wrong. I just filled out my tax returns according to advice on the ATO website. For doing this the ATO accused me of fraud!”
We say: If the ATO decides to target you in an audit, you need to be aware of the process launched against you and how you need to respond.
Here’s the history of Rod’s case:
- You open the mail. You owe us $422,030.64 says the ATO. (27 June 2017)
- ATO admits baseless allegation (30 November 2016)
- ATO attacks partnerships (20 October 2016)
- Legal battle on 2 fronts (29 September 2016)
- Overview of Rod’s case (15 March 2015)