Australian Taxation Office Deputy Commissioner Michael Cranston has been caught up in a major tax ev

Busted!

ATO deputy caught up in tax fraud bust

ATO deputy commissioner to be charged with abusing position following AFP raid

 

That is very sad.

 

Sad ? I think its appalling that someone (allegedly) misused a position like that to steal from taxpayers. Its a HUGE sum and seemingly a substantial effort. Nothing like a small business !! Seems a few other ATOers may be implicated through inadvertent involvement in access to information :

ATO Second Commissioner Andrew Mills said two other ATO officers were also being investigated internally for potential code of conduct breaches. It's believed they tried to look up information on the ATO's audit at the behest of Michael Cranston.

 

Sad that they were rorting the system or sad that they were busted?

Wonder if they will face jail time if found guilty.....or are they too high up to touch?

 

probably jail time in a country club like Berrima prison.

 

Most likely a 12 month community based order and $1,000 fine.

 

wow.. looks like some dodgy connections going on there in the family!

 

Thats an area that should really be looked at within the ATO. Who else "potentiallty" was this guy cutting deals with or for?

 

Better penalty; forced to work for free a the ATO for life...handling customer complaints.

 

They can chase unpaid tax debts.

 

It is sad that such a great individual has felt the pressure to breach their morals.

This issue will overshadow anything he has done i his career.

 

He just thought the kids were doing really well for themselves

 

Yes - 25 luxury cars, 2 airplanes, 18 properties....Their markets stall is doing so well.

 

Don't know dad's involvement.

Maybe just became aware and made a personal warning to a family member to cease as repercussions are looming.

 

it was the plutus payroll scandal which broke out a few weeks ago.

I always wondered how do they manage to process payroll without charging any percentage and provide rewards card too on top of that. They claimed to have deals with companies reselling their products to the contractors. Now I understand they had multiple 2nd tier companies to pay contractors but not to pay the PAYG tax.

 

that would be a truly harsh sentence.

 

If its sounds too good to be true, it probably is. Greed is often that bait for these schemes to defraud....I just read a good article on the specifics. The contractors scheme was 100% bogus - I suspect there will b a lot of contractors who get burned here. PSI re-assessments may follow. Seems the media reports indicate that the Tier2 companies would fail to report and remit the whole amount...A cut taken by the scheme organisers.

The article suggested it may not be the only payroll company under review. If I was a betting man I would think all payroll agencies may get a prompt tax compliance review.

What we know about Plutus Payroll, the company allegedly at the centre of Australia's biggest tax fraud

 

Yes. Dep Commr Cranston will appear later and his charges appear to relate to breaches of senior officer code of conduct etc.
One report says : AFP investigators said Michael Cranston is not suspected of having been aware of the conspiracy or having assisted it in any way, but is alleged to have shown his son ATO records and thereby abused his role as a public official.
Reported here :
Payroll-for-contractors company named at centre of AU$165m tax scam scheme

 

Let's give the father the benefit of the doubt.
Imagine having this hidden from you from the people you work with (for obvious reasons) and not realising what your son was doing.

Could you imagine how devastated he would be? Then being required to prosecute (or watch your friends and colleagues prosecute your own son). I don't know about you guys, but for me, seeing something like this is very painful for the parent.

 

It wasnt about PSI. Dont think any payroll company does income splitting anymore as it stopped many years ago. The issue here is tax wasnt paid to ATO. The details coming in news so far says PAYG tax wasn't being remitted to the ATO as required and was being delayed.

They cannot underqoute the tax because it is on employee's group certificate as well.