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Date Published : Friday, February 15, 2008
More than 400 Australian citizens who use overseas bank accounts as tax havens have admitted to failing to declare foreign income worth in excess of $17 million.
As a result of a lengthy investigation by the Australian Taxation Office (ATO) which quizzed 1,600 Australian citizens who were involved in foreign transactions, officials found that more than $17 million worth of tax returns had not been filed.
One taxpayer declared tax had not been paid on $2.4 million worth of income that had been accrued overseas over four years.
The Australian reports that a growing number of the country's citizens have overseas bank accounts, particularly based in the British tax havens of Jersey, Guernsey and the Isle of Man. Switzerland is also a popular choice for savings accounts.
Assistant commissioner of the ATO Graham Whyte said: "It has been income that's been earned from interest and dividends or wages and pensions that have been paid overseas - they have been the main ones.
"It's people who are living in Australia that we are concerned about.
"What we are finding is that it's people who have offshore investments, or it has been people who were working overseas and they've migrated to Australia or coming back and they still have investments offshore."
Earlier this year, the ATO offered tax help for those affected by the New South Wales and Queensland storms.
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