Every year, the ATO shares their approach to the banking and finance sector with industry groups and advisory firms.
Recently, Acting Assistant Commissioner Bill Neskovski, Public Groups and International, participated in discussions with the industry to discuss key areas of focus and issues for the year ahead.
Many businesses in the sector form part of the ATO's Top 100 and Top 1,000 populations and as a segment, made up 11% of the corporate tax transparency population for the 2020–21 income year.
'As part of our Top 100 justified trust program, we'll work with the industry using our Monitoring and Maintenance approach. This approach aims to maintain our high level of confidence in the population's reported tax outcomes', Mr Neskovski said.
For those in the industry engaging with the ATO through the Top 1,000 assurance program, the ATO aims to have regular and ongoing engagement to achieve overall high assurance that the right amount of tax is being reported.
Mr Neskovski explained that the ATO is seeing common themes which have impacts across the banking and finance sector. This includes mergers and acquisitions, divestment activities and the constant evolution in the FinTech sector.
'We're committed to continuing our positive engagement with the industry in the year ahead. This includes developing and publishing timely industry-level guidance to address compliance and uncertainties.'
The ATO recognises there are some areas which may create uncertainty for tax and GST obligations in the industry. These include transfer pricing and branch attribution for income tax, and reverse charge liabilities and crypto assets for GST.
'We appreciate the opportunity to discuss our focus areas with industry and advisers', Mr Neskovski said.
Key issues and areas of focus for the industry for the next 6 months.