Independent Review – Department of the Treasury
On 16 December 2019, the Government announced the introduction of a sharing economy reporting regime (p.167) to increase the transparency of payments made via platforms and help to ensure sellers are meeting their tax obligations.
The Black Economy Taskforce Final Report considered several alternative options to a reporting regime, including withholding income tax from payments made to sharing economy users, and creating a bright-line test to distinguish between hobby and business activities. It was concluded that the least onerous option would be to introduce a third-party reporting regime requiring operators of electronic platforms to report information to the Australian Taxation Office (ATO) relating to transactions facilitated through their platform.
Consistent with the Government’s Regulation Impact Statement (RIS) requirements, the Black Economy Taskforce Final Report has been certified by the Department of the Treasury (Treasury) as meeting the requirements of a RIS. Under the pre-March 2020 RIA settings, the Office of Best Practice Regulation (OBPR) did not assess the quality of independent reviews. Treasury was compliant with the Government’s RIS requirements.
The Treasury estimated the average annual regulatory costs at $0.022 million.
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