What attracts the ATO’s attention

To help you get things right, you should consider the behaviours, characteristics and tax issues that attract the ATO’s attention.

The ATO have published this information below as the behaviours and characteristics that may attract their attention:

• tax or economic performance is not comparable to similar businesses
• low transparency of your tax affairs
• large, one-off or unusual transactions, including transfer or shifting of wealth
• a history of aggressive tax planning
• tax outcomes inconsistent with the intent of tax law
• choosing not to comply or regularly taking controversial interpretations of the law
• lifestyle not supported by after-tax income
• treating private assets as business assets
• accessing business assets for tax-free private use
• poor governance and risk-management systems

Source: https://www.ato.gov.au/Business/Privately-owned-and-wealthy-groups/What-you-should-know/Transparency/What-attracts-our-attention/