# ATO coming after Uber drivers latest:BEWARE



## george manousaridis (Jan 27, 2017)

*ATO writes to 60,000 Uber and other ride-sharing drivers asking them to get tax affairs in order*

Uber and other ride-sharing drivers must be registered for GST following an ATO ruling that took effect in August 2015. Before that they had been able to avoid GST payments by arguing they fall under the $75,000 turnover threshold at which GST applies.


Federal Court agreed with the ATO that Uber drivers were like a "taxi" and thereby have to register for and pay GST even if they fall under the threshold.

http://www.smh.com.au/business/ato-...them-to-register-for-gst-20170629-gx12xb.html


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## Surge Donut (Jun 5, 2017)

Let them come. Who cares. It would be nice to be audited so we have the opportunity to tell them how Uber operates.


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## Jobless Broke (Jul 1, 2017)

We earn under the $75,000 threshold. GST is not collected by Uber. You do not receive GST from your riders. GST should be paid by the rider and not you. If you did get GST from the riders then you should simply hand it over to the ATO, thats fair. If however there was no GST paid by the rider then you have nothing to hand over to the ATO. If I am wrong then I apologise, but I see no GST in any of my statements from Uber. Uber says that you charge the riders not them. (sic). Check my thread on GST. I am still in discussions with the ATO and Uber on this issue. I have paid the GST on my riders behalf while I fight for my rights, but I will get it all back in the wash. By the way, do you notice how the surge moves or gets smaller as you get closer. If we are Taxi drivers then our taxes should be calculated the same and we should be able to claim cents / Km. as well as everything else.

Notice that registering for GST and paying GST are two separate things. The rider/consumer/user, pays the GST and not the Provider of goods or service. The consumer pays! You are simply an unpaid tax collector for the ATO. Did you receive any GST from your riders (consumers)?


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## george manousaridis (Jan 27, 2017)

Forum members,I really not concerned on anyone that's doesn't comply right across the board of every aspect of running a so called business compliance.Its your problem,but one thing I will tell you,Don't non comply with any government agency,comply or you will end up liquidated and bankrupted!Take note,you either comply across all Absolute government compliance of Australian law or you will be tasted,good bye and you will end up with nothing.Either come to your senses or you will end up playing the bluff of stupidity and you will claim your insane.Lol you non compliant Ants just don't get it,Who pays the All regulatory bodies,federal,state and local agencies.You non compliant Ants make yourselves look like fools.


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## Jobless Broke (Jul 1, 2017)

george manousaridis said:


> Forum members,I really not concerned on anyone that's doesn't comply right across the board of every aspect of running a so called business compliance.Its your problem,but one thing I will tell you,Don't non comply with any government agency,comply or you will end up liquidated and bankrupted!Take note,you either comply across all Absolute government compliance of Australian law or you will be tasted,good bye and you will end up with nothing.Either come to your senses or you will end up playing the bluff of stupidity and you will claim your insane.Lol you non compliant Ants just don't get it,Who pays the All regulatory bodies,federal,state and local agencies.You non compliant Ants make yourselves look like fools.


You seem very angry and condescending about something. This forum is for people to air their views. In a democracy it is your right to have an opinion, weather it is right or wrong and I respect your opinion but please respect the opinion of other without resorting to condescending remarks. Taxes must be paid to keep the infrastructure of the country going. I agree with that. However paying taxes on behalf of others is incomprehensibly stupid.


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## george manousaridis (Jan 27, 2017)

Jobless Broke said:


> You seem very angry and condescending about something. This forum is for people to air their views. In a democracy it is your right to have an opinion, weather it is right or wrong and I respect your opinion but please respect the opinion of other without resorting to condescending remarks. Taxes must be paid to keep the infrastructure of the country going. I agree with that. However paying taxes on behalf of others is incomprehensibly stupid.


Thank you for responding,quite opposite,not angry or grumpy,pointing facts,either we all comply and face the law in all compliance,is that anger? not to my eyes,it's not uptime to comply on others behalf,it's their problem if they tangle in the web of non compliance.Then people cry foul about how they got stung.Pretty simple


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## UberDriverAU (Nov 4, 2015)

Jobless Broke said:


> We earn under the $75,000 threshold. GST is not collected by Uber. You do not receive GST from your riders. GST should be paid by the rider and not you. If you did get GST from the riders then you should simply hand it over to the ATO, thats fair. If however there was no GST paid by the rider then you have nothing to hand over to the ATO. If I am wrong then I apologise, but I see no GST in any of my statements from Uber. Uber says that you charge the riders not them. (sic). Check my thread on GST. I am still in discussions with the ATO and Uber on this issue. I have paid the GST on my riders behalf while I fight for my rights, but I will get it all back in the wash. By the way, do you notice how the surge moves or gets smaller as you get closer. If we are Taxi drivers then our taxes should be calculated the same and we should be able to claim cents / Km. as well as everything else.
> 
> Notice that registering for GST and paying GST are two separate things. The rider/consumer/user, pays the GST and not the Provider of goods or service. The consumer pays! You are simply an unpaid tax collector for the ATO. Did you receive any GST from your riders (consumers)?


 The problem you are having Jobless Broke is that you don't understand how the GST system works. What you are being asked to do by the ATO is correct if you are correctly classified as an independent contractor. You will need to prove to them that you are an employee if you want to avoid paying GST.


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## prk (Jul 9, 2015)

Surge Donut said:


> Let them come. Who cares. It would be nice to be audited so we have the opportunity to tell them how Uber operates.


Spoken by someone who has obviously never been audited.


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## george manousaridis (Jan 27, 2017)

prk said:


> Spoken by someone who has obviously never been audited.


Non compliance and headed for debt collection


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## prk (Jul 9, 2015)

https://www.taxinstitute.com.au/news/uber-loses-gst-battle-with-ato-ordered-to-pay-gst

the ATO is well aware of how Uber operate.


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## Baz. (Aug 6, 2015)

Jobless Broke said:


> We earn under the $75,000 threshold. GST is not collected by Uber. You do not receive GST from your riders. GST should be paid by the rider and not you. If you did get GST from the riders then you should simply hand it over to the ATO, thats fair. If however there was no GST paid by the rider then you have nothing to hand over to the ATO. If I am wrong then I apologise, but I see no GST in any of my statements from Uber. Uber says that you charge the riders not them. (sic). Check my thread on GST. I am still in discussions with the ATO and Uber on this issue. I have paid the GST on my riders behalf while I fight for my rights, but I will get it all back in the wash. By the way, do you notice how the surge moves or gets smaller as you get closer. If we are Taxi drivers then our taxes should be calculated the same and we should be able to claim cents / Km. as well as everything else.
> 
> Notice that registering for GST and paying GST are two separate things. The rider/consumer/user, pays the GST and not the Provider of goods or service. The consumer pays! You are simply an unpaid tax collector for the ATO. Did you receive any GST from your riders (consumers)?


Interesting angle. The rider pays the GST. If no GST is collected then the ATO misses out. I wonder how that will pan out in the courts.


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## ChortlingCrison (Mar 30, 2016)

It's getting very bazzy over there.


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## Wedgey (Feb 14, 2017)

prk said:


> Spoken by someone who has obviously never been audited.


Ah so true. Maybe they think "skippy the kangaroo" is the auditor.


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## Surge Donut (Jun 5, 2017)

Wedgey said:


> Ah so true. Maybe they think "skippy the kangaroo" is the auditor.


An audit of an Uber driver would probably cost the ATO more money than a driver would pay in GST in a decade. The auditor's salary wouldn't be cheap. If the driver goes on to lose their job they'll be on the dole at tax payers expense. Or if they go to gaol it would cost taxpayers about $100,000/year. Not really a good use of resources. It would be better if Uber just paid their fare share.


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## prk (Jul 9, 2015)

[


Surge Donut said:


> An audit of an Uber driver would probably cost the ATO more money than a driver would pay in GST in a decade. The auditor's salary wouldn't be cheap.


Not really, an ASO 4 can do a desk audit of a taxpayer in about 2 hours.
An ASO 4 earns roughly $65k per year.
with the extraordinary amount of data matching being done, and the computerisation of tax returns, this frees up a lot of tax officers for audit.


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## Surge Donut (Jun 5, 2017)

prk said:


> [
> 
> Not really, an ASO 4 can do a desk audit of a taxpayer in about 2 hours.
> An ASO 4 earns roughly $65k per year.
> with the extraordinary amount of data matching being done, and the computerisation of tax returns, this frees up a lot of tax officers for audit.


How can they do an audit without going through hundreds of receipts?


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## prk (Jul 9, 2015)

don't tell me you haven't kept receipts?


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## Surge Donut (Jun 5, 2017)

prk said:


> don't tell me you haven't kept receipts?


I have but there are hundreds of them. Would take longer than 2 hours to go through them.


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## Wedgey (Feb 14, 2017)

prk said:


> don't tell me you haven't kept receipts?


I would love to be "audited" by the suewho.


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## Jack Malarkey (Jan 11, 2016)

Wedgey said:


> Ah so true. Maybe they think "skippy the kangaroo" is the auditor.


They can't duck it.


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## lui6155 (Apr 21, 2016)

Surge Donut said:


> How can they do an audit without going through hundreds of receipts?


Surge, given the computerised data that the ATO receives from Uber an audit is extremely simple and efficient from the ATO's point of view.
Think about it, the ATO has an upload of all of your payment summaries which also includes the km's travelled. So for the upcoming tax year the ATO:
1) will compare the income declared on your tax return to that provided from Uber
2) will also compare the above to your GST return
3) the ATO will perform a sanity check of the deductions based on the income and kms travelled on the payment summary.

Sure stick your head in the sand and assume you will not get audited. But the reality is that a simple computer matching program (not an auditor) will identify any anomolies and you will be caught in the headlights of the ATO (much like the recent letters that have gone out to drivers who did not have an ABN and or haven't submitted a GST return.)


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## Jerry888 (Jun 25, 2017)

I take a picture of all my petrol receipts and upload it to Dropbox as a digital copy just in case i lose the original or it is unreadable in the future.


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## Jack Malarkey (Jan 11, 2016)

I suspect the Tax Office will conduct detailed audits only where there is clearly a discrepancy in the income derived (as per information from Uber) or where expenses significantly exceed benchmarks developed by the Tax Office (or both). An exception would be where fraud is evident or suspected.


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## Coconutz (Mar 8, 2016)

Boring


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## george manousaridis (Jan 27, 2017)

Coconutz said:


> Boring


Ignore me time!


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## Dr. Pax (Jun 9, 2017)

george manousaridis said:


> Thank you for responding,quite opposite,not angry or grumpy,pointing facts,either we all comply and face the law in all compliance,is that anger? not to my eyes,it's not uptime to comply on others behalf,it's their problem if they tangle in the web of non compliance.Then people cry foul about how they got stung.Pretty simple


The reason why you look angry, besides the content, is the form of your text.
Punctuation has been created for a reason.
Speaking is something, writing is something else.
If you do short sentences, everyone can easily follow your thoughts. This is even more true when English isn't your first language. 
Also, the ENTER key seems to be missing on your keyboard.


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## george manousaridis (Jan 27, 2017)

Dr. Pouf said:


> The reason why you look angry, besides the content, is the form of your text.
> Punctuation has been created for a reason.
> Speaking is something, writing is something else.
> If you do short sentences, everyone can easily follow your thoughts. This is even more true when English isn't your first language.
> Also, the ENTER key seems to be missing on your keyboard.


Click The link:

https://www.ato.gov.au/misc/sbit/sbnewsA20170705.html


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## bazz61 (Feb 8, 2017)

keeping receipts...use separate credit card for all work related expenseses..the ATO regonises CC statements as receipts ..correct me if i'm wrong..!

Just pay GST on the money you collect ..less GST on any work related expenses...like all GST businesses do ...however paying UBers share of GST is debatable as it has never gone into your account then you have never received it ...you cant pay GST on any $$ you have never received ...ATO will say different.. just produce bank statement of $$ received and argue ..also make sure your vehicle is 100% used for UBER on the books...you need to prove this with paper work or jointly own another vehicle( name on rego papers ) .
You owe it to yourselves to claim every cent back on GST as you can..home computer ...tablet .. ..phone ..internet connection .vechile purchase/running costs .. part of your rates bill.. electricity bill to power computer and office .. using room at home for office ..printing costs ...after all you are a contractor running a business and all contractors make these claims ...get an accountant ...UBER is the perfect platform for a 2 car family to make the 2nd vechile a tax write off ...


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## UberDriverAU (Nov 4, 2015)

bazz61 said:


> however paying UBers share of GST is debatable as it has never gone into your account then you have never received it ...you cant pay GST on any $$ you have never received


This is where people get themselves into trouble. From the ATO's point of view Uber has received the money on your behalf. That has the same legal effect as if you received the money and then made a payment to Uber.


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## bazz61 (Feb 8, 2017)

seen the TV add where $$ earned in Australia must pay tax ....hopefully this will apply to UBER ...at the moment they are ripping off the ATO and drivers with their non payment of GST ...


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