In the 2017-18 financial year, there were 2.8 million Australians making work-related car expense claims totalling $6.2 billion. The ATO is worried that too many taxpayers are automatically claiming the 5,000 kilometres limit regardless of the actual amount of travel.
“One in five car claims are exactly at the maximum limit that doesn’t require receipts,” Ms Foat said.
Under the cents-per-kilometre method, taxpayers do not need to keep receipts, but they do need to be able to demonstrate how they worked out the number of kilometres they travelled for work purposes.
“While some claims of exactly 5,000 kilometres are legitimate, we’ve found many people are unable to show how they’ve arrived at this amount, and as a result they’ve had their claim reduced or disallowed in full,” Ms Foat said. “Simply driving between work and home is not enough to warrant a deduction.” She said taxpayers also need to keep records to prove how they have worked out the claim.
ABC News Report – Assistant Commissioner Karen Foat 28 June 2019
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