Yahoo Finance JOBKEEPER FRAUD: Rorter to pay $6,282 for lying to ATO
A man has been ordered by the courts to cough up thousands of dollars for trying to claim $6,000 under the JobKeeper scheme that he was not entitled to.
The move marks the Australian Taxation Office's first criminal conviction of Aussies making fraudulent claims for the wage subsidy payment.
Raed Saleh was convicted in the Heidelberg Magistrates Court on Wednesday for lying to the Australian Taxation Office.
He has been fined $3,000 and ordered to pay $3,000 in reparation as well as other costs of $282, the ATO said in a statement.
Saleh pretended he was a sole trader and lodged two months’ worth of JobKeeper claims to the ATO.
He pretended that his business was eligible for the wage subsidy scheme and that he saw revenue slide by 30 per cent during May and June, both of which are requirements for employers trying to claim the payment.
But Saleh wasn’t operating a real business, and had actually made arrangements with his full-time employer to receive the wage subsidy.
Through the false claim, Saleh received $3,000 from the ATO for the month of May – but his June claim was cut short amid an ATO investigation into the matter.
In court, Saleh pleaded guilty to the charges, admitting that he did not run a business as a sole trader and wasn’t eligible for the payments.
‘We will take action’: ATO’s warning to businesses
On Tuesday, ATO deputy commissioner Will Day said fraud against stimulus payments was fraud against the community and described it as effectively stealing from taxpayers.
“We have an important role to ensure the integrity of the stimulus measures and when we uncover fraud or people seeking to exploit them, we will take action, as we know the community would expect us to do,” Day said.
Since the very first payment from April 2020, the ATO has “monitored every payment, every day, every month, and will continue to do so until the last payment is made,” he said.
Most people are honest and doing the right thing, Day added, saying the ATO works with employers who make genuine mistakes.
But those who are looking to take advantage of the payments will be penalised, he warned.
“As this case demonstrates, where people deliberately seek to exploit the stimulus measures, we will put a stop to it and apply the full force of the law.”
As of mid-February, the ATO has issued $84 billion in JobKeeper payments to more than 1 million Australian businesses.
Serious cases of fraud may incur penalties that are more than just financial: prosecution and jail-time is also on the cards for the worst offenders.
The JobKeeper scheme is scheduled to end on 28 March.
The Federal Treasurer, Josh Frydenberg, has signalled repeatedly that it was intended to be a temporary measure and will not extend the subsidy again.
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