Tax crime investigations and results

Our tax and superannuation systems are two of Australia's most important assets - they provide the revenue and wealth that supports our society.

While Australia generally has a strong culture of voluntary compliance, a small number of people still try to cheat the system and gain an unfair advantage by deliberately avoiding their tax and super obligations. We work with the government and community to protect the majority of people by deterring, detecting and dealing with anyone who has intentionally not complied.

We ensure those people who are disengaged from the tax system and resistant to complying with their obligations face serious consequences for their behaviour, including prosecution.

We take all forms of tax evasion and intentional non-compliance seriously. The seriousness of these offences is also being recognised through the sentences being handed down in the courts, examples of which are in our prosecution media releases below.

The tables below provide a summary of prosecutions for:

• serious offences for fraud - which are investigated by the Australian Taxation Office (ATO) and prosecuted by the Commonwealth Director of Public Prosecutions (CDPP)
• summary offences under the Tax Administration Act - which are prosecuted by the ATO and mainly involve lodgment offences.

Serious fraud*

	Cases	Convictions		Custodial sentences	Reparation orders ($m)	Court fines ($)
2011-12 **	24	24	100%	22	3.0	3,000
2010-11	62	60	97%	53	17.0	7,500
2009-10	61	60	98%	55	10.1	11,000
2008-09	60	56	93%	42	11.2	14.3 million
2007-08	78	78	100%	47	4.3	37,200
2006-07	108	106	98%	64	3.8	63,000

* The serious fraud cases and convictions include Project Wickenby-related cases.

** This information is current up to 31 December 2011.

Summary offences*

	Cases	Convictions		Dismissals and withdrawals	Fines ($m)
2011-12 **	1,097	962	88%	135	3.47
2010-11	1,747	1,518	87%	229	7.51
2009-10	2,792	2,517	90%	275	10.35
2008-09	3,253	2,912	90%	341	10.85
2007-08	2,510	2,207	88%	303	7.1

* The summary offence cases do not include multiple cases/convictions for the same individuals or companies.

** This information is current up to 31 December 2011.

Find out more about tax crime and how you can help combat it. Refer to our prosecutions media releases for the period: 1 July to 30 September 2011 1 April to 30 June 2011 1 January to 31 March 2011 1 October to 31 December 2010 1 July to 30 September 2010.