Happy to dob in a mate

Cash-in-hand payments head list of complaints to tax office

AUSTRALIA has become a nation of dobbers, with more than 140 people every day tipping off the Australian Taxation Office about their bosses, colleagues and mates.

News Corp can reveal a record number of Aussies contacted the ATO’s anonymous hotline last financial year to dob in tax cheats.

Bosses paying workers cash-in-hand topped the list of complaints, figures obtained under Freedom of Information laws reveal.

The figures shed a huge light on the “black economy”, estimated to cost this country up to $50 billion a year.

The ATO received 5586 reports of businesses giving their workers cash to escape paying their tax or superannuation. Complaints about illegal foreign workers, cash being demanded from customers, dodgy “phoenixing” practices and unpaid superannuation also numbered in their thousands.

A spokesman for the ATO said businesses were paying cash-in-hand to deliberately avoid their obligations to pay tax and superannuation.

“The cash economy is part of the black economy, which is a significant, complex problem that threatens the livelihoods of honest Australians,” the spokesman said.

“It is estimated that the black economy could be as large as 3 per cent of GDP (roughly $50 billion) today, if not more. Transacting in cash is a legitimate way of doing business, but when cash is used to deliberately hide income to avoid paying the correct amount of tax it’s not fair for all Australians.”

In total, 51,623 reports were made to the ATO’s tax evasion hotline in 2017-18 — an 11 per cent increase on the previous year.

Australian Council of Trade Unions assistant secretary Scott Connolly said the “extraordinary number” of complaints about stolen superannuation showed dodgy bosses thought they could “pocket people’s retirement savings and get away with it”.

The ACTU has been calling for new rules allowing workers be able to pursue stolen super through the workplace umpire.

“Companies who steal from workers should be held fully accountable,” Mr Connolly said.

“Superannuation is an industrial right and workers should be able to deal with theft within the industrial relations system.

“We need new enforcement mechanisms, better access for unions to check pay slips and ensure that businesses are doing the right thing, and simple procedures for people who need to claim money back which impose real penalties on employers.”