The Taxable Payments Reporting System (TPRS) was extended to include the road freight industry with businesses needing to start recording payments to contractors from 1 July 2019 for an August 2020 report.
The TPRS is a measure designed to help trace the use of the black economy and requires affected businesses to report the total payments they make to contractors for the provision of services on their behalf.
In discussions with the Australian Taxation Office (ATO), the National Road Transport Association (NatRoad) has been told that a large number of road freight businesses have not yet complied with the lodgement requirements under the TPRS for the financial year 2019-20.
NatRoad CEO Warren Clark said “Whilst a number of courier and road freight businesses were required to report payments made to contractors to the ATO, there has been considerable non-compliance.
“The ATO expected to receive around 17,000 lodgements from payers in the road freight industry. The ATO has heard from around 10,000 of these businesses – about half have lodged their required report (the TPAR) and half have advised the ATO that they don’t need to lodge a TPAR. It is very promising that over 60 per cent of the industry have met this obligation voluntarily, considering the challenging circumstances many faced in 2020 with bushfires and the pandemic hitting some members hard.
“The ATO has indicated to NatRoad that it wants to assist those that didn’t meet the 28 August 2020 deadline to lodge as soon as possible to avoid facing penalties. NatRoad urges members who have not lodged to do so as soon as possible, or to seek advice if they are unsure of their obligations,” Mr Clark concluded.
