Small businesses have been handed a warning by the new Australian Tax Office (ATO) commissioner over billions of dollars in mounting debts.
Rob Heferen, who's been in the ATO's top role for little over a month, today said small businesses were responsible for about two-thirds of the $50 billion in unpaid tax and superannuation owed – a sum of around $33 billion.
"The amount of collectable debt (which is ultimately tax and super that has gone unpaid by taxpayers) is now at over $50 billion," he told the Council of Small Business Organisations Australia (COBOA) National Small Business Summit.