The Tax Office has announced that it is contacting certain businesses in the building and construction industry that have lodged an annual “taxable payments annual report” about some of the information that has been provided.

The triggers for Tax Office contact include businesses that have:

• provided a report with missing or invalid ABNs
• included amounts paid for GST when the business isn’t registered for GST
• not lodged a report, or advised the Tax Office they don’t have to, when Tax Office records indicate they should.

The taxable payments report should show the total yearly payments made to each contractor that has provided services to a business for building and construction work. The data provided enables the Tax Office to data match information it has about contractors working in the industry, and allow it to detect if these have included all income on their tax returns.

The Tax Office has also provided guidance for businesses that have already lodged their taxable payments annual report but that need to correct the information already provided. Access this guidance here. Here is a copy of a worksheet for the taxable payments report from the Tax Office to help keep your records in order. (Note; this is just a worksheet for your own records.)