Sharing economy reporting regime started
The Sharing Economy Report Regime (SERR) has now commenced for the 2023-24 income year. Only transactions for supplying taxi travel, ride sourcing and short-term accommodation need to be reported under the regime. However, from 1 July 2024, the SERR will apply to all other reportable transactions of electronic distribution platform operators (EDPs) including hiring of assets (consisting of hire of personal assets, storage, or business space), food delivery, and professional performing tasks and activities.
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Reporting by operators of electronic distribution platforms
Generally, all operators of electronic distribution platforms (EDPs) must report transactions made through the platform. EDPs are defined as any service that allows sellers to make supplies available to buyers and are delivered via electronic communication (e.g. website, internet portal, gateway, application, online store, marketplace). It should be noted that platforms that solely provide carriage services that transmit electronic communications, access to payment systems or payment processing services, or advertising that makes customers aware of products and links to them to a merchant’s website are not considered to be EDPs.
For example, consider a platform that merely provides a connection between a seller and an end-user, say for services, but transactions are not accepted through the website, and the entity is required to contact the end-user themselves (e.g. platforms where individuals requiring trades can input the details of work they’re looking to have done and tradespeople can bid for a jobs by directly contacting end-users with offers). These platforms are not considered to be EDPs, and no data will be required to be reported under the SERR.
However, if a platform provides a connection between a seller (whether it be an individual or a business) and an end-user and the transaction between the two parties is processed through the platform, then these transactions are captured under the SERR. The operators of the platform will need to report:
- all transactions when an entity uses the EDP platform to make a supply that relates to Australia (including its external territories);
- all transactions that are available to end-users and receive payment or other consideration for the supply.
EDP operators are not required to report the following transactions:
- the sale of goods or real property (i.e. where ownership changes)
- financial supplies
- where EDP operator and the seller are members of the same income tax consolidated group or MEC group
- where tax is required to be withheld from payment under the PAYG withholding regime.
Information reported
Information that will be reported by the EDP platform operators on the seller include:
- name
- DOB
- ABN
- registered business name
- trading name
- tax identification number
- address
- contact number
- bank account name, BSB, and account number (or international equivalent)
- total amount of payments to the seller for the reporting period including GST
- fees and commissions
- total GST payable on all sales
In addition, for sellers of short-term accommodation, the property address and number of nights booked will be included in reports to the ATO.
Compliance
While the regime ostensibly applies to EDP platforms, it is expected to heavily affect individual taxpayers with the information obtained through the program to be used in ATO data matching and compliance projects.
According to the ATO, compliance profiles of participants in the sharing economy will be created using the data to generally improve ATO intelligence.
In addition, the data will also be used to improve compliance, both voluntarily through education programs and through enforcement measures.
Disclaimer: The information on this page is for general information purposes only and is not specific to any particular person or situation. There are many factors that may affect your particular circumstances. We advise that you contact Mathews Tax Lawyers before making any decisions.