ATO hits back at claims JobKeeper payments were made to the dead
February 3, 2021
The Australian Taxation Office (ATO) has sought to clarify media reports that suggested JobKeeper payments may have been made to fictitious employees, including dead people.
Last week, the ABC reported that documents obtained under freedom of information laws had shown that as at September, the ATO was investigating 5,974 cases of potentially fictitious employees who had applied for the wage subsidy scheme. This included people who were overseas, the deceased and prisoners.
Lawyer Niall Coburn told the ABC that the ATO “cannot check every application”, and so some things may have initially been overlooked by the government.
JobKeeper payments for prisoners, the dead and other fraud cases probed by ATO
Posted
ThuThursday 28
updated
ThuThursday 28
JanJanuary 2021 at 7:36pm
Employees in prison is a category red flagged by the ATO for further investigation of suspicious JobKeeper claims.
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Dodgy employers have signed up jailed criminals, people living outside Australia and even the dead to receive $1,500-a-fortnight JobKeeper payments.
Key points:
Employers claiming JobKeeper on behalf of fictitious employees are being pursued by an ATO investigation Client is in jail is a category under scrutiny where people may have taken advantage of the $130 billion scheme
FOI documents show the ATO was investigating 5,974 cases of inflated employees as at September
Cheryl and Faye thought they had nearly $1m invested with friend Melissa Caddick. Then she went missing
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WedWednesday 16
Faye Reid (left) and Cheryl Kraft Reid entrusted Melissa Caddick with their superannuation.
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Choosing who to entrust your life savings to is a fraught decision, so Cheryl Kraft Reid went with someone she thought she could trust.
Key points:
Melissa Caddick went missing in November after her home was raided by corporate watchdog ASIC
Cheryl Kraft Reid and her wife believed they held a CommSec account and cash savings worth more than $900,000 through Ms Caddick s financial firm