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Hundreds of Australians with links to Swiss banking relationship managers alleged to have actively facilitated tax evasion schemes have been identified by the Serious Financial Crime Taskforce (SFCT).
The SFCT will interview bank employees, taxpayers and lawyers as part of its investigation into whether Australians identified in the data have failed to comply with their tax obligations or been involved in criminal activity.
This follows search warrants and arrests by authorities in the Netherlands, the United Kingdom, Germany and France.
“The fact that these accounts are unnamed means that by their very nature they are likely to have been established to hide the identity of the owner,” said Minister for Revenue and Financial Services, Kelly O’Dwyer.
“Taskforce agencies are working through their intelligence to determine the taxpayers in this group who have done the right thing, and those who have been concealing the true nature of their tax affairs,” she said.
Of the 346 Australians identified, 23 have already come forward to the ATO or have been previously subjected to ATO compliance action.
It is expected that many identified will have complied with their tax obligations.
“Unfortunately, there are still those who believe they can dodge from their tax obligations and avoid detection by government agencies,” said Ms O’Dwyer.
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