Reduce the risk of refund fraud in your practice

Overview

Refund fraud occurs where tax returns, activity statements and other documents are deliberately falsified in order to claim a tax refund a taxpayer is not entitled to.

Fraudulent claims can be lodged by individuals on their own account or by third parties on behalf of others. Sometimes this involves identity crime, where taxpayer identities are used by third parties to make fraudulent claims for personal gain.

We have seen incidents where registered tax agents, BAS agents or their staff have been inadvertently involved in lodging claims that are fraudulent.

Here are a few suggestions that may help your practice maintain high professional standards.