In late April, we alerted you to the new Australian Taxation Office (ATO) reporting rules for gig workers. We had some queries asking, “what are ‘gig’ workers?” That’s a pretty sensible question.
Last week I posted the answer on Substack. You can read ‘To Gig or Not to Gig’ (it’s free!)
Yes, icons of global popular culture such as Mick Jagger, Beyoncé and Harry Styles are all gig workers.
And (believe it or not) gig work is even older than Mick Jagger! Wow! I wonder if Mick’s eight children—particularly his youngest child, six-year-old Deveraux—would realise that Mick’s a gig worker? They probably wouldn’t care…
But the ATO does care about who is a gig worker. And the Albanese government, under Minister Burke, wants to kill off gig. But we assume that it wouldn’t give PM Albanese any ‘Satisfaction’ to attack Jagger, and anyway ‘You Can’t Always Get What You Want’.
But the ATO is really looking at this as a Satellite issue (apologies to Mr Styles).
What the ATO is focused on is the type of gig work that’s done through platforms. No, not the ‘stage’ platforms that Mick, Beyoncé and Harry work on, but the ‘tech’ platforms that Uber and other such companies use to organise work. The ATO calls it the sharing economy.
What the ATO wants to do is track your income if you work as a ride-share driver, rent out your flat/house/room for short-term accommodation and so on. The ‘platform’ companies will be required to report your income to the ATO starting on 1 July 2023 (i.e., soon!) The platform companies will require information from you, notably your:
- ABN and business/trading name (where applicable);
- first, middle and surname/family name (for individuals);
- date of birth (for individuals);
- residential or business address;
- email address and telephone numbers; and
- bank account details.
But we suspect they’d have all this information anyway. The ATO has provided a detailed explanation here.
And just to ensure the message gets through, to steal a line from Beyoncé, these new gig reporting rules also apply to Single Ladies! (But presumably won’t apply if you’re still in nappies.)