Luxury car owners, already reeling
from a federal budget which will lift
the rate of tax they pay on buying
their cars by a third, are about to be
hit by something worse special
attention from the tax man.
The Australian Taxation Office
gave notice yesterday in the Commonwealth
Gazette that it would
ask each state and territory motor
registration office to supply it with
the names, addresses, phone
numbers and dates of birth of each
Australian who has bought or sold a
luxury car between July 2005 and
July 2007.
The Tax Office defines a luxury
car as any vehicle bought or sold for
more than $57,000 the luxury car
tax threshold.
It is a definition at odds with that
used by Shadow Treasurer Malcolm
Turnbull, who told the National
Press Club yesterday that ''the vast
bulk of the cars sold in that $57,000
and more category are not regarded
as particularly luxurious''.
The tax increase on cars above
that price level ''should be called a
Tarago tax,'' he said. ''It is not a tax
on people of high incomes.''
But the Tax Office said yesterday
its luxury car program would identify
''those earning high incomes''
who accumulated assets.
''The intention of the luxury
vehicle data-matching project is to
trace both high risk non-lodgers and
those with undeclared income
based on the value of the assets they
acquire which indicate conspicuous
wealth,'' it said.
The program is an extension of its
conspicuous wealth project.
Results from a pilot program
suggest that as many as one in four
Australians who buy or sell a luxury
car have at least one outstanding tax
return.
The Tax Office said it would cross-
reference the data obtained from
the states and territories with its
records to identify those who
appeared to have tax debts, undeclared
income and unlodged tax
returns.
Those who had bought or sold
cars and were unknown to the ATO
would receive a letter asking them
to confirm they had tax records.
''We have not been able to confirm
your details with Tax Office
records,'' the letter would read.
''If we have not had a response
within 21 days a field officer may
visit you to confirm your Tax Office
record details.''
The ATO will ask registry offices to
supply it with details that identify
both the purchasers and sellers of
luxury cars and also the dates of the
sale, the sale prices, the garage
addresses and the Vehicle Identification
Numbers.
The protocol issued yesterday
says the ATO recognises that ''certain
persons with conspicuous
wealth may use various strategies to
conceal their ownership of a
vehicle. These strategies can involve
registering the vehicle under the
name of another person or entity
when buying or selling.
''Alternatively, it may be that the
actual owner undertakes a vehicle
ownership transaction when
claiming to act on behalf of another
person or entity which may or may
not exist.''
It says it will extend its data-
matching activities to investigate
further persons of interest such as
sellers, licensed dealers, fleet
managers and leasing companies.