Q. Show the Number of phoenix operators ?
A key challenge in quantifying phoenix activity is estimating the number of companies engaging in the activity. In 2001/02, 1.6% of complaints (194 complaints) that ASIC received related to phoenix activity and this was used as a lower bound estimate of the number of cases of phoenix activity per year. In 2009, the ATO finalised 124 phoenix cases and derived $83.3 million as a result.
Of these 124 cases, 75 were finalised via field audits or reviews, with the balance being a mixture of other compliance strategies. Out of these 75 cases, in 55 cases money was raised.
Therefore, the average liability raised by the ATO per productive case was $1.5 million. In the same year the ATO estimated that the current cases of suspected phoenix activity they were monitoring pose a risk to government revenue of $600 million per annum.
Using the average tax liability, it can be extrapolated that the ATO were monitoring approximately 400 cases of phoenix activity. This was also used to test the sensitivity of results.