TaxRambling.com

Let me share with you two stories of dodgy taxpayers…

Cop couple caught and convicted

In their 2017 and 2018 income tax returns, they claimed refunds totalling $28,483 and $17,851. They ignored system-generated warnings due to the size of the WRE deductions, lodged their returns and got audited.

To prove their claims, they provided a letter claiming to be from a Senior Sergeant at their work. Unfortunately, the person’s name had been spelled incorrectly, their title and phone number were wrong, and the local area command referenced on the document no longer existed.

They provided fabricated invoices for work-related travel but the ‘weapons training’ they claimed to have attended in these locations didn’t exist.

I make the claim and you process it!

A 32-year-old Canberra man has been handed a criminal conviction and fined $1,800 for claiming false work-related expenses.

Even though he had everything he needs given to him, he claimed work-related car, travel, clothing and self-education expenses – including amounts he had not paid but his employer had paid.

When asked to substantiate the claims, he said he got to decide what he could claim and it was the ATO’s job to ‘just process the return’. His claims were subsequently disallowed.

Having lost his deductions on his (late) 2014 return, a month later, he lodged his 2015 and 2016 income tax returns with many o the same deductions. This time, he provided a letter to validate his claims from his employer, but checks with his employer confirmed the letter was false.