Australia: New GST rules from July 2022
The Australian Treasury is proposing to impose reporting obligation on platforms in the sharing and gig economy. If implemented, the operators of electronic marketplaces and platforms will be required to report to the Australian Taxation Office (ATO).
The regime would apply from 1 July 2022 to transactions relating to:
- supplies of a taxi travel (as defined in the GST legislation, which includes ridesharing)
- supplies of short-term accommodation
Definition of Gig and Sharing Economies for Tax
Gig and sharing economies are defined as enabling individuals and businesses to offer their resources on flexible terms. The gig economy involves the individuals offering their time in the form of services, generally on a freelance or part-time basis. The sharing economy involves individuals or groups, renting out assets they own to customers who need them.
A summary of the various sub-sectors of both economies is set out below:
| Sector | Gig or sharing | Physical/ digital delivery | Examples |
| Ride-sharing | Gig | Physical | Uber; BlaBlaCar; Lyft; Grab; Didi |
| Short-term accommodation | Sharing | Physical | Airbnb; Booking.com; HomeAway; Flipkey |
| Delivery services | Gig | Physical | Deliveroo; Just Eat; Eat with Me; Instacart |
| Household services | Gig | Physical | TaskRabbit; Handy |
| Professional services | Gig | Digital | Freelancer; Fiverr; Upwork |
| Click-work | Gig | Digital | Amazon mechanical turk |
| Finance, including Crowdfunding and PeP lending | Sharing | Digital | Lending Club; Lendico; Bitcoin; Ripple; Funding Circle |
The draft legislation is similar to the new tax rules of the EU’s Directive on Administration Cooperation (DAC 7). It covers B2C transactions for: goods, services, gig and sharing economies. DAC 7 marketplace legislation is approved by the EU Council and will apply to digital platforms operating both inside and outside the EU from 1 January 2023.
Australia’s Commissioner of Taxation has yet to specify the information required from platform operators to ensure adequate reporting to ATO.
Source: The Treasury Australia
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