Updated Compliance Program 2004-05 - This information was updated on 13 October 2005

Employer obligations

Most large businesses are employers with a range of responsibilities under the PAYG withholding system for income tax, superannuation guarantee and fringe benefits tax. This year we are focusing on assuring compliance with employer obligations through education programs and reviews and audits.

We are designing our employer obligation compliance strategy to fit in with the regular business systems employers use to manage their payroll and employment-related functions. We are writing to, phoning or visiting employers to verify they are complying with their PAYG withholding, fringe benefits tax and superannuation guarantee obligations. In considering cases for review, we look for things such as:

• a business claiming a much larger deduction for salary and wage expenses in its tax return than is reported in its activity statement for the same period
• the amount of PAYG withholding that a business has paid during the year being less than the total withheld amounts shown on their employees' payment summaries
• the reporting under one employer obligation (for example, superannuation contributions received by super funds) not matching the reporting under another employment obligation (for example, PAYG withholding)
• a business having the attributes of a fringe benefits taxpayer but has not reported or paid fringe benefits tax, or
• complaints that employers are not paying the right amount of superannuation guarantee.

Sections within D. Large business

• Registering in the system
• Reporting correct information
• Tax reform
• Capital gains tax
• International tax issues
• Employer obligations
• GST issues
• Losses
• Aggressive tax planning
• High wealth individuals
• Foreign exchange gains and losses
• Market valuations
• Service trusts
• Research and development tax concession
• Superannuation issues
• Excise issues
• Meeting lodgment obligations
• Meeting payment obligations
• How we help you comply