SME Communicator - May 2011

Our field audits protect compliant businesses

To protect the interests of employers who comply with their obligations we are conducting field audits in selected industry segments. We also, where appropriate, audit businesses that are referred to us by workers, competitors or other members of the general community.

Some businesses have been seeking an unfair competitive advantage by incorrectly treating their workers as contractors and pressuring them to get an Australian business number (ABN). These businesses improperly lower their costs by avoiding their pay as you go (PAYG) withholding and superannuation guarantee responsibilities.

When undertaking field audits, we focus on instances where employers have:

• incorrectly treated common law employees as contractors, that is, entered into sham contracting arrangements
• failed to withhold tax from wages, including from cash wages
• failed to report and pay us the PAYG amounts withheld from wages
• not paid super guarantee contributions for workers, including for some eligible contractors.

Anyone who has been adversely affected by sham contracting practices can phone us on 1800 060 062 between 8.00am and 6.00pm, Monday to Friday.