found this while trawling ebay tonight, any body got any idea what the f is going on? doesn't affect me but very curious if anyone here has some insight?

http://cgi.ebay.com.au/T...ries&hash=item230f57e216

Looks to me like someone out there is targeting ebay sellers with telling the ATO (Tax office) about how much money some people are making thru ebay without declaring it tax free in otherwords. In turn these SOB's are trying to blackmail the sellers to pay up some hush money .
Pickle me Grandmother!

This is the text off the auction as it'll disappear quickly i'd say. Seems very obscure.

WARNING EBAY MEMBERS WE HAVE A WHISTLE BLOWER PASTING ALL YOUR INFO ON TO THE A,T,O AND OTHER DEPARTMENTS . THANK YOU FOR ALL THE MEMBERS THAT HAVE ALREADY SENT COPYS OF THERE LETTERS THAT THAY HAVE RECEIVED FROM THIS PERSON , WE NOW HAVE A CASE . WE NO HOW THAY ARE AND HAVE FOR SOME TIME ,, THE CASE AND CHARGES WILL BE AS STATED ,BLACK MAIL WITH CONTENT ,EXTORSION,MENTAL TORMENEMT,MENTAL ABUSE, PHYSCIAL ABUSE,THREATING WITH CONTENT, PROVERTING THE COURSE OF JUSTICS ,FOR THE SOLE PROFIT FOR THEM SELVES. AND THE LIST GO,S ON .. THIS WILL TAKE 12 TO 18 MONTHS TO COMPETE ALL THE NESSARY PAPER WORK AND PROCEEDINGS,,,,, SO BE PAIENT AND WE WILL LET YOU NO BY LETTER OF THE STAGE WE ARE UP TO .. AND REMEMBER ONLY SEND THE COPIES NOT THE ORIGINALS, AND DON,T PUT YOUR FINGERS ON THE LETTERS AND PUT THEM IN A PLASTIC BAG AND OUT OFSUN LIGHT FOR A LATER DATE , ,,, THIS PERSON THINK,S THERE ABOVE THE LAW AND UNTOUCHABLE, THANK YOU FOR THE LETTERS . LETTER BOY OH LETTER CHICK,,, HAVE YOU FOUND THE 3 COPIES IN YOUR HOUSE YET KEEP LOOKING YOU WILL ..THIS PERSON HAS A PERSONAL VANDETTER AGAINST ME AND OTHERS SO THE CASE,S WILL COME UNDER A CIEVL LAW SUIT ACT AND WILL RUN IN TO THE MILLIONS, AND BE ONE OF THE BIGGEST CASES IN THE COUNTRY AND WILL MAKE HEAD LINES IN ALL THE NEWS PAPERS AROUND THE STATES, , BY THE WAY A FAMILY MEMBERS IS A JUDGE IN QLD . I MAY NOT BE ABULL TO SPELL BUT I HAVE ALL THE RIGHT HELP I NEED TO EXPOSE THIS PERSON FOR WHAT THAY ARE ,HAVE A NICE DAY

I thought the reporting threshold was $10K annually?
ATO came knocking on a mate's door & he'd only just cracked $10K over a 12 month period, and that's what he was told.

The letter is written in poor english ,could be a scam of some sort!

ato info here...
http://www.ato.gov.au/in...oc=/content/00250217.htm

I think that this guy should have his daily medication increased. That or be put in a fully padded room.

Dr Terry

I hope he isnt a postal worker!!

I can understand the ATO wanting to chase businesses selling items & not paying them the GST component, or chasing people who are buying cheap goods elsewhere, purely to sell for a profit, but not everyone is "cheating" tax.

Here's 2 cases I've thought of:

Person A restores a car. For 15 years they've been collecting parts - buying them from wreckers, ebay & swap meets, with the odd new parts from dealers & the likes of rare spares. They are like all of us - sometimes the new parts aren't quite right, and they've bought 4 or 5 of each part to use just the best bits.

Now they've finished the resto, and it's time to offload all the parts - including some of the new items. With the value of some of these items nowdays, it wouldn't take much to hit $10 or $20K. So the ATO comes knocking... BUT you have already PAID GST on the new parts you're now selling off as excess. What gives them the right to double dip???

Case 2:
This is actually a real situation - it's a lady at my work. This person constantly buys new shoes, handbags & clothes - sometimes spending $300 a week doing so. She has an entire bedroom set up as shoes & accessories, and another bedroom that has a built in wardrobe, plus 2 more, just for clothes (this doesn't include her walk-in robe). The house is owned by her mother, who is in a home & they live there rent free.
Unfortunately Mum isn't in a good way, and doesn't have long left.
There are 4 children including her, so she's getting a 1/4 share. But they can't afford to buy the other 3 out of the house, and have to prepare to move, but they don't want to leave the expensive area they're in. They have found a place within their budget - it only has 2 bedrooms.
She is now "downsizing" - selling off stuff on ebay.

Here's the kicker - most of what she's selling is brand new, never worn or used, most still with tags. She has already paid income tax on the money she used to buy all this stuff, and paid GST when buying it.
I reckon she'll easily make $30K from the sale. What gives the ATO the right to try to tax her on that income from selling all these items??

I the words of Paul Keating.... "Black Money is costing australia growth". that was back in 91 & I think the GST has made it easier for the backyarder & killed off alot of good businesses.