The ATO contacted the employer who advised the equipment could be securely stored on their premises. It is believed Lak Quach's love affair with fine wine has become his undoing. Credit:Rob Homer "The taxpayer's car expense claims were disallowed because the equipment could be stored at work and carrying them was his personal choice, not a requirement of his employer," the ATO says. 2. Holiday travel that is not work-related A wine expert, working at a high-end restaurant, took annual leave and went to Europe for a holiday.

He claimed thousands of dollars in airfares, car expenses, accommodation, and various tour expenses, based on the fact that he'd visited some wineries. He also claimed over $9000 for cases of wine. The ATO says all his deductions were disallowed when the employer confirmed the claims were private in nature and not related to earning his income. 3. Fake attendance at a 'work' conference A medical professional made a claim for attending a conference in America and provided an invoice for the expense. The ATO says that it checked. It found that the taxpayer was still in Australia at the time of the conference.

"The claims were disallowed and the taxpayer received a substantial penalty," the ATO says. 4. Car-related travel that there is no proof of A taxpayer claimed deductions for car expenses using the logbook method. "We found they had recorded kilometres in their log book on days where there was no record of the car travelling on the toll roads, and further enquiries identified that the taxpayer was out of the country," the ATO says. "Their claims were disallowed."

5. Rental deductions with no valid basis A taxpayer claimed self-education expenses for the cost of leasing a residential property, which was not his main residence. The taxpayer claimed he had to incur the expense of renting the property as he "required peace and quiet for uninterrupted study which he could not have in his own home", but it was rejected. In addition to the rental expenses, the cost of a storage facility was claimed where the taxpayer needed to store his books and study materials. "He claimed he needed this because of the huge amount of books and study material associated with his course and had no space in his private or rented residence where these could be housed," the ATO says.

"This was not deductible." The cost of renting the property was around $57,000, with additional expense of $7500 for the storage facility. The actual cost of the study program he attended that year was only $1200. Warning to taxpayers and their agents Assistant Commissioner Graham Whyte says with more than eight million Australians claiming more than $21 billion in work-related expenses each year, mistakes still creep in. He said in some cases tax agents inflated peoples claims to generate larger refunds.