A recent article published in the online small business magazine SmartCompany will have many people reviewing what they say and expose on Facebook and other social networking sites.

Tax Office staff are the last people you expect to be looking at your Facebook profile but according to a lecturer at Latrobe University’s Faculty of Law and Management cited in the SmartCompany article, the popular social networking site is being used to build prima-facie cases against investors using offshore tax havens.

Our compulsion to share our every movement on online forums is being used by the Tax Office as a tool to build profiles on high net wealth individuals. So, if you’re telling the tax office that you have a modest income but are constantly posting pictures of yourself in your floral board shorts in Barbados, or your latest shopping expedition in Paris, then you can expect a call from the Tax Office very soon.

Offshore tax havens are a particular focus and this compliance program has claimed the scalps of many high profile taxpayers through Project Wikenby.

The accessibility of the information available to the Tax Office to investigate and build cases against taxpayers is increasing every day. Your Facebook profile is just another avenue.