New tax data reveals Australians hold $100bn in offshore accounts

More than 1.6m accounts identified in data shared with Australian authorities by 65 countries including tax havens

Individual Australians hold more than $100bn offshore, spread across more than 1.6m accounts, according to new taxation office data collected under an international cooperation agreement.

The Australian Taxation Office has already sent about 2,000 letters to Australians who it has identified have failed to declare $20m in income held offshore, telling them it knows about their formerly secret accounts, assistant commissioner Karen Foat said.