As the end of the financial year is approaching, we believe it is an appropriate time of the year to offer you an opportunity to participate in our Audit Shield service.

If a data matching check escalates to an official enquiry, investigation, review or audit, our costs in defending your position can accumulate quickly, regardless of whether any adjustments are made to your returns or not. Our Audit Shield service covers those costs (up to predetermined limits).

Audit Shield is not just for business owners and SMSFs. The Australian Taxation Office has also identified individual taxpayers who have rental properties and those with excessive work-related deductions for special scrutiny.

Our Audit Shield service now also covers JobKeeper payment audits and reviews. The ATO reportedly received 2,609 tip-offs about businesses accessing JobKeeper payments by 20 May 2020, and is investigating some of those cases, therefore it is crucial for businesses to keep evidence of their eligibility for the JobKeeper scheme now, to be ready for any review activity.

What you should know about this new inclusion:

• It only covers JobKeeper payments. All audits and reviews of other COVID-19 support packages are not covered unless they form part of an audit of a lodged return (ie. BAS audit, Payroll Tax audit etc.)
• It only covers post-payment audits and reviews, so any issues or queries with the JobKeeper payment application process are not covered.
• If you already have Audit Shield, you do not need to do anything to have this included in your policy - this is being added at no additional cost to you.

If you would like to know more about our Audit Shield service, please contact our office.