As a goodly number of our members are tax lawyers or tax accountants and many of the others are keenly interested in taxes, we think they may be interested in this report that was emailed to us from Australia today:
The Australian Taxation Office (“ATO”) suspected a fishing boat owner wasn’t properly reporting wages paid to his staff. It sent an auditor to investigate him.
ATO Auditor: “I need a list of your employees and how much you pay them”. Boat Owner: “Well, there’s Clarence, my deckhand, he’s been with me for 3 years. I pay him $1,000 a week plus free room and board.”
“Then there’s the mentally challenged guy. He works about 18 hours every day and does about 90% of the work around here. He makes about $10 per week, pays his own room and board, and I buy him a bottle of Bundaberg rum and a dozen Crown Lagers every Saturday night so he can cope with life. He also gets to sleep with my wife occasionally”.
ATO Auditor: “That’s the guy I want to talk to — the mentally challenged one.”
Boat Owner: “That’ll be me. What would you like to know”?
