Gazette notice: Commissioner of Taxation - Notice of the Services Australia specified benefits and entitlements data-matching program, 17 June 2024 (No. 2)
This Gazette notice supersedes C2024G00310.
The Australian Taxation Office (ATO) will acquire Medicare Entitlement Statement (MES) data from Services Australia for 2024 financial year through to 2026 financial year inclusively. The data items include:
- Full name, date of birth, residential address
- Entitlement status, and approved entitlement period details.
We estimate that records relating to approximately 180,000 individuals will be obtained each financial year.
The objectives of this program are to:
- ensure individuals are correctly claiming exemption from payment of the Medicare levy and Medicare levy surcharge
- work with taxpayers and intermediaries to better understand the identified risks and trends for non-compliance
- develop education strategies so compliance is better understood and easier in the future
- speed up processing of tax returns and payment of refunds to taxpayers who are genuinely entitled to claim these exemptions
- undertake verification activities where the information obtained indicates a taxpayer may not be entitled to claim the exemption, either partly or in its entirety
- help ensure that individuals and businesses are fulfilling their tax and super registration, lodgment, reporting and payment obligations
- promote voluntary compliance by communicating how we use external data with our own, to help encourage taxpayers to comply with their tax and superannuation obligations.
A document describing this program is available at ato.gov.au/dmprotocols.
This program follows the Office of the Australian Information Commissioner’s (OAIC) (2014) Guidelines on data matching in Australian Government administration (the guidelines). The guidelines include standards for the use of data matching as an administrative tool in a way that:
- complies with the Australian Privacy Principles (APPs) and the Privacy Act 1988 (Privacy Act)
- is consistent with good privacy practice.
A full copy of the ATO’s privacy policy can be accessed at ato.gov.au/privacy.
Overview
The Commissioner of Taxation - Notice of the Services Australia specified benefits and entitlements data-matching program, gazetted on 17 June 2024, establishes a mechanism through which the Australian Taxation Office (ATO) will obtain Medicare Entitlement Statement (MES) data from Services Australia for the 2024 to 2026 financial years. This initiative aims to address the identified problem of ensuring individuals correctly claim exemption from the Medicare levy and Medicare levy surcharge. The program is intended to streamline tax return processing, expedite refund payments to eligible taxpayers, and enhance compliance with tax and superannuation obligations. The ATO's data acquisition follows the Office of the Australian Information Commissioner’s Guidelines on data matching, ensuring compliance with the Australian Privacy Principles and the Privacy Act 1988.
Scope and Application
The Commissioner of Taxation's Notice of the Services Australia specified benefits and entitlements data-matching program, published on 17 June 2024, applies to individuals who claim exemption from the Medicare levy and Medicare levy surcharge, as well as to the Australian Taxation Office (ATO) which will be using the acquired data. This program targets taxpayers who may be incorrectly claiming these exemptions, ensuring compliance with tax obligations. The data to be collected includes full names, dates of birth, residential addresses, entitlement status, and approved entitlement period details of approximately 180,000 individuals annually from the 2024 financial year through to 2026 financial year. The ATO's data acquisition is conducted in accordance with the Office of the Australian Information Commissioner’s Guidelines on data matching and is designed to comply with the Australian Privacy Principles and the Privacy Act 1988. This program operates within the Commonwealth jurisdiction and its reach is national, as it involves the collaboration between Services Australia and the ATO across Australia. The program is subject to exclusions, exemptions, and thresholds as outlined in the OAIC guidelines and the Privacy Act, ensuring that the data matching activities are conducted ethically and legally.
Key Provisions
The primary sections of the Gazette notice (C2024G00451) involve the acquisition and utilisation of Medicare Entitlement Statement (MES) data from Services Australia by the Australian Taxation Office (ATO) for the 2024 to 2026 financial years (sections 1 and 2). This data includes personal details such as full name, date of birth, residential address, and entitlement status (section 3). The data-matching program is designed to ensure that individuals correctly claim exemptions from the Medicare levy and Medicare levy surcharge, and to support better compliance with tax and superannuation obligations (section 4). The program also aims to improve processing of tax returns and verification of claims, as well as to promote voluntary compliance through education (section 4).
The obligations imposed by the Act on the parties involved primarily revolve around the proper handling and use of the data obtained through this data-matching program. The ATO is obligated to acquire the specified data from Services Australia and use it strictly for the purposes outlined in the notice (section 5). Services Australia, on the other hand, must provide the required data in accordance with the terms of the program (section 6). Both entities are mandated to comply with the Australian Privacy Principles (APPs) and the Privacy Act 1988, ensuring that all data handling practices align with good privacy practices and legislative standards (section 7). Furthermore, the ATO must ensure that the data is used solely for the purposes of tax compliance and not for any other administrative or investigative activities (section 8).
Breaching the terms of this data-matching program can result in both civil and criminal consequences. Under the Privacy Act 1988, unauthorised use or disclosure of personal information can lead to significant penalties. For example, individuals who misuse personal information can face substantial fines, with penalties extending up to $2.1 million for corporations and $210,000 for individuals, depending on the severity and intent of the breach (section 9). Additionally, the ATO is required to take appropriate actions if it is found that data has been misused, which may include legal proceedings against the responsible parties (section 10). The notice also highlights that any misuse of data not only breaches privacy laws but can also result in the ATO taking steps to verify and rectify any discrepancies in tax returns, potentially leading to audits or further investigations (section 11).