35 searches were undertaken by Australian authorities in five states on companies they believed to be selling or employing tax avoidance software.
The Australian Federal Police (AFP) and the Australian Taxation Office (ATO) executed the raids, which took place at the same time as related events in the US and the UK.
The software, also known as electronic sales suppression tools (ESSTs), has been used in the hospitality and retail sectors, according to ATO deputy commissioner John Ford.
He said: “We’ve seen ESSTs arise in hardware connected to point-of-sale systems, cloud-based software, and functionality incorporated directly into the software.”
“[They] enable merchants to launder money in a single transaction while maintaining a different set of books.
“They hide and move this money surreptitiously, occasionally overseas.”
He warned that an ESST-enabled point-of-sale system may “permanently remove transactions, re-sequence transactions, lower sales values, misrepresent transactions, and ultimately fabricate fraudulent records.”
The consumer may purchase a $60 steak and a $100 bottle of wine, which the ESS tool may then process through the point-of-sale system as a $10 bowl of chips and a $4 bottle of soft drink.
The ATO inspectors claimed to have “a huge stockpile of information” in their possession.
They stated that no charges have been filed and that investigations are still ongoing.
