Tax Talk: lodging tax time and scam alerts

The following community information is brought to you by the Australian Taxation Office.

This information is brought to you by the Australian Taxation Office. Source: Supplied

Today Young Kim, ATO’s employee with Korean background joins SBS radio studio to explain about tax time and scam alerts.

Do you know that October 31 is the due date for either lodging your own tax return or contacting a registered tax agent?

Scammers are known to increase activity around tax time so make sure you know the status of your tax affairs. They’ve two main objectives - to get people to either pay money, or divulge personal identifying information, or sometimes both.

It is important to not to give out personal details such as your tax file number, date of birth, credit card or bank details, unless you are sure about the person you are dealing with and they genuinely need those details.

Sometimes scammers come to you house saying they come from ATO. However, please remember, the ATO will never visit residential premises without an appointment or threaten you with arrest if you don’t pay a debt immediately.

If you need more information or the validity of an ATO interaction, call the ATO Scam Hotline on 1800 008 540.

Go to www.ato.gov.au/scamalerts to learn more about the latest tax scams. 

[The full story is available on the podcast above]

Young Kim, ATO’s employee with Korean background joins SBS radio studio to explain about tax time and scam alerts. Source: SBS Korean program