Australians who have Swiss bank accounts are now being watched by the ATO (Australian Tax Office) who are focusing on the wealthiest individuals.
Jeremy Hirschhorn, the deputy tax commissioner has said that the ATO is now accessing Swiss bank accounts for the purpose of ensuring Australians are meeting their tax obligations.
In an interview with the ABCās AM breakfast radio program, Mr Hirschhorn said that while āthereās nothing wrong with holding a Swiss bank accountā that there were āa few people in the list that weāre pretty interested about.ā
Mr Hirschhorn was unable to confirm if there were any prominent Australians included in the ATOās list of high-wealth individuals. He said that āprominent Australians are generally good taxpayersā.
Mr Hirschhorn said that the ATO was aware of āwho the big fish areā and that while digital world made it āeasier to move things around the worldā it also meant entities left ādigital footprints everywhereā.
He added that āthe days of stashing money overseas are overā.
Mr Hirschhorn also cited the Panama papers as evidence of employees having the ability to whistle-blow on companies and wealthy individuals who might be cheating the tax system.