The Australian Taxation Office (ATO) continues to increase its data gathering programs, having registered three further data-matching notices, stating these are for “compliance related purposes”.
Below we summarise the latest initiatives.
Notice of a lifestyle assets data-matching program
- 26 August 2024
The ATO will acquire lifestyle assets data from insurance providers for 2023-24 through to 2025-26. Insurance policy data will be collected for specified classes of assets, where the relevant asset value is equal to or exceeds the nominated thresholds.
The data items include client identification details (names, contact details, dates of birth, etc) and policy details (policy number, relevant policy date, asset details, etc). The ATO estimates that the total number of policy records obtained will be approximately 650,000 to 800,000 each financial year.
Notice of a Property management data-matching program
- 26 August 2024
The ATO will acquire property management data from property management software companies for 2018-19 through to 2025-26.
The data items include property owner identification details (name, contact details, date of birth, etc), property details (property address, property manager details, relevant bank details, etc) and property transaction details (period start and end dates, rental property account balance, etc).
The ATO estimates that records relating to approximately 2.3 million individuals will be obtained each financial year.
Notice of an Officeholder data-matching program
- 26 August 2024
The ATO will acquire officeholder data from the Australian Securities and Investments Commission (“ASIC”), the Office of the Registrar of Indigenous Corporations (“ORIC”), the Australian Charities and Not-for-profits Commission (“ACNC”), and the Australian Business Registry Service (“ABRS”) for 2023-24 through to 2026-27.
The data items include name, contact details, date of birth, ABN, organisation details, state of incorporation, officeholder type, etc, including officeholder role start and end dates as recorded on the publicly available ASIC Companies register, the ORIC register of Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander corporations, and the ACNC Charity Register. The ATO estimates that records relating to more than 11 million individuals will be obtained.
Some are concerned with the reach now achieved by the ATO into the lives and living of ordinary Australians. Further, where we have seen the increasing incidents of data hacking, the risk is high of a data breach occurring within a framework which now will hold virtually all detail pertaining to the income, assets, debts, medical expenditure, personal expenditure, overseas expenditure, etc. of nearly all adult Australians.
This information is intended as a guide only and professional advice should be sought for individual circumstances.