There has been a noticeable increase in audit activity from the various state revenue offices as they look to clamp down on non-compliance and face increasing pressure to fund state budget initiatives. The full integration of measures, such as Single Touch Payroll, TPRS and expanded data sharing with the ATO and other key government cross-agency relationships, has meant increased targeted audits triggered by more sophisticated data matching capabilities.

A number of businesses caught in this scenario often consider themselves to have a robust tax governance program in respect to their corporate and other employment tax filings. However, increasingly we see payroll tax shortfalls arising from issues such as:

  • not considering the broad interpretation of the grouping provisions
  • the requirement to include genuine contractor payments that wouldn’t create an employment tax obligation for other areas of employment taxes
  • off payroll payments made to Directors listed on ASIC registers and visible to the Revenue Compliance Officers
  • expatriate employees and share based payments not reported by payroll providers.

How we help

Having navigated through a multitude of state revenue audits, our employment solutions team have the expertise to assist with:

  • undertaking a due diligence of your payroll tax compliance, including:
    • identifying risks and uncovering opportunities in your payroll processes through internal review
    • undertaking payroll audit and data analysis to develop a remediation plan
  • if it’s too late, guiding your business through a payroll tax audit to ensure technical compliance while maximising the opportunities to exclude taxable wages and reduce penalties
  • reviewing and ensuring correct disclosure (both under and over) in your annual reporting compliance
  • undertaking de-grouping applications and reviewing other technical positions and applications
  • advising on payroll tax relief stimulus initiatives such as Jobs Plus Program and regional payroll tax relief.

Learn more about our payroll assurance review

George Bendall
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George Bendall
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George Bendall
+61 7 3222 0386

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