The Australian Taxation Office (ATO) has revealed it has raided 35 properties nationally as part of a global crackdown on businesses suspected of using technology to under-report sales and avoid paying tax.
According to the ATO, those raids took place across Victoria, New South Wales, Queensland, Western Australia and Tasmania last week.
The ATO told the ABC many of the businesses raided were in the hospitality industry.
No charges have been laid yet.
It said its agents raided the properties in tandem with officers from the Australian Federal Police (AFP).
The investigation has been looking into businesses suspected of using or supplying electronic sales suppression tools (ESST).
ESST helps businesses permanently delete business transactions, reduce sales values or misrepresent transactions in other ways.
That then helps businesses declare a lower bottom line for tax purposes.
ATO commissioner John Ford gave an example of a restaurant doctoring how much customers were buying.
"So, what might happen is that the customer orders a $60 steak and a $100 bottle of wine," he said.
"And the ESS tool then puts it through the point of sale system as a $10 bowl of chips and a $4 bottle of soft drink."
Mr Ford said it was illegal to do this, as well as to supply ESST in Australia.
"[It's a] deliberate and underhanded act, designed purely to under-report income and avoid tax obligations.
"It's illegal and it will not be tolerated here in Australia.
"Businesses using or promoting this technology are effectively stealing from the Australian community, and that's simply not on."
The ATO said in a statement about the raids that "investigations [were] ongoing" and a "significant cache of information [had] been gathered".
It also said legal action was expected as a result of the raids.
"We've seen ESST appear in hardware connected to the point of sales system, cloud-based software and capability built directly into the software," Mr Ford said.
The ATO carried out the raids as part of a global taskforce into ESST.
It was done in tandem with counterparts in the United Kingdom and the United States.
