CANBERRA, Feb. 28 (Xinhua) -- The Australian Taxation Office (ATO) has announced major crackdowns on work expenses and Bitcoin investors.
In a submission to a parliamentary inquiry examining tax issues, the Australian government said that Australians claimed 22 billion Australian dollars (17.1 billion U.S. dollars) in work-related expenses in the financial year ending in June 2017.
It said that the ATO would provide Treasury with information that could lead to sweeping policy changes to end the "systemic abuse" of work expenses.
"We have seen work-related expenses being over-claimed by both self-preparers and tax agents, and we will continue to increase attention, scrutiny and education on work-related expenses for tax time this year," an ATO spokesperson told Fairfax Media on Wednesday.
The ATO estimates that 1.94 billion U.S. dollars is lost to wrongful expense claims every year, similar to the amount of revenue lost via multinational tax avoidance.
"While each of the individual amounts over-claimed is relatively small, the sum and overall revenue impact for the population involved could be significant -- in the vicinity of, or even higher than the large market tax gap of (1.94 billion U.S. dollars) -- and that's just for this category of deductions, work-related expenses," ATO Commissioner Chris Jordan said.
In the government's submission to the parliamentary inquiry, Treasurer Scott Morrison asked for methods for recouping the revenue lost to dodgy claims to be investigated.
He said he was hopeful that recouping that lost revenue would compensate for the revenue that would be lost if the government successfully cuts the company tax rate by 5 percent.
News of the crackdown on work expenses came as the ATO announced that Bitcoin investors would be confronted by the full investigative powers of the body.
Under new anti-money laundering legislation, the ATO will use 100-point identification checks to take on the anonymous nature of crypto-currency investments.
Will Day, Chris Jordan's deputy, said that the ATO would rely on "increased transparency."
"The Anti-Money Laundering Counter-Terrorism Financing Act ensures that there is investor transparency through 'know your client' requirements," Day told News Corp Australia.
"The increased transparency the law provides, combined with our data-matching techniques and a range of existing powers which address unexplained wealth, strengthen the ATO's ability to tax crypto-currency profits."
The new laws will also require crypto-currency exchanges to report any suspicious transactions or cash transactions exceeding 10,000 Australian dollars (7,794 U.S. dollars).
The ATO said that there would be no tax implications for Bitcoin investors in cases where it is used "to purchase goods or services for personal use or consumption ... provided the cost of the Bitcoin is 10,000 (Australian dollars) or less."
The increased transparency surrounding crypto-currency comes after Coinbase, one of the world's biggest crypto-currency exchanges, received a summons from the U.S. Internal Revenue Service (IRS) for the account details of 13,000 investors.
Paul Drum, policy chief at Certified Practicing Accountant (CPA) Australia, described the new policy as a "watershed moment."
"The effectiveness of the anonymity of Bitcoin and other crypto-currencies is starting to fade. These coming changes mean that people shouldn't assume they can hide forever behind blockchain technology, nor should they assume there are no tax consequences," he said.
