Written

For

The

Australian

-

ATO

warns

dodgy

tax

and

investment

schemes

on

the

rise

If an offer sounds too good to be true, it almost certainly is — and right now, scammers are betting that the cost-of-living squeeze has made Australians desperate enough to ignore that little voice in the back of their heads.

The ATO is warning that dodgy tax and superannuation schemes are proliferating, particularly via social media, and the sophistication of these operations is getting worse. Having seen a few of these come across my desk over the years, I can tell you the pitch is almost always the same: a "little-known" loophole, an urgency to act, and eye-watering fees dressed up as "advisory costs."

One scheme doing the rounds involves setting up a not-for-profit foundation and diverting personal income into it to sidestep tax. It doesn't work. The ATO simply amends your assessment, and by then the promoter has vanished with their fee.

The super-related scams are particularly nasty. Some promise early access to your super by rolling it into an SMSF — often bundled with a sham property arrangement where a "third party" lends you back an equivalent amount as a house deposit. Aside from breaching the sole purpose test, victims hand over ID documents that then get recycled into identity theft.

A few things I'd urge readers to remember. First, there are legitimate early-release-of-super pathways for genuine hardship — they start with a call to your existing super fund, not a stranger on Instagram. Second, don't assume your accountant is actually licensed. Last year one unlicensed operator was fined $1.8m for lodging over 3,000 returns, and another got five years' jail for stealing $600,000 from clients. Check the TPB register.

And if you're already tangled up in one of these arrangements? Talk to family, and get independent professional advice fast. The longer you leave it, the uglier the ATO conversation becomes.