Increased ATO activity in the sharing economy

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The ATO has recognised there is a risk that taxpayers are not reporting their full income from these activities and is devoting more resources to ensure compliance in this area. From 1 July 2023, the ATO is requiring operators of share economy platforms to provide information to the ATO under the newly established Sharing Economy Reporting Regime. This regime will apply to all sharing platforms including popular ones such as Airbnb, Stayz, Uber and Airtasker. These platforms will be required to give the ATO the names, ABNs, dates of birth, addresses, bank account details and of course, the amounts paid for all participants deriving income through the platform.

It is important that all taxpayers ensure they disclose all income they receive from their "side hustles" on their tax returns as this new regime, in addition to the ATO's existing data-matching capabilities, will mean that the ATO will be able to identify where income has not been correctly included on a tax return. It increases the likelihood that underreporting will be found and that penalties will be applied to taxpayers who fail to meet their reporting obligations.

If you have any queries about how this may affect your tax return, or what records you need to keep, please contact our office.