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Tax Amnesty for Overseas Tax Dodgers - Project DO IT

The ATO has announced an amnesty for taxpayers with offshore assets or income to voluntarily come clean by 19 December 2014.

The ATO says that its Project 'DO IT' (i.e., 'disclose offshore income today') provides a last chance opportunity for those who haven't declared their overseas assets and income to come back into the system.

Under Project DO IT, taxpayers:

- are encouraged to disclose omitted income or over-claimed deductions relating to their offshore activities;

- will not be investigated or referred for criminal investigation by the ATO; and

- will generally only be assessed for the last four years.

However, until the taxpayer comes forward, the ATO said its normal compliance activities will continue and, if the taxpayer is detected first, they will not be able to benefit from the amnesty.