Commissioner of Taxation
NOTICE OF A DATA MATCHING PROGRAM
The Australian Taxation Office (ATO) will request and collect names, addresses and other related information of taxpayers:
Receiving tax-free government pensions or benefits for the financial years 2011 and 2012
from the following sources:
- Department of Human Services, Centrelink program
- Department of Veterans’ Affairs
These will be electronically matched with certain sections of ATO data holdings to identify non compliance with taxation obligations related to claims for dependent tax offsets under taxation law.
Records relating to approximately 1.1 million individuals registered with the Department of Human Services, Centrelink program will be matched. Records relating to approximately 700,000 individuals registered with Department of Veterans’ Affairs will be matched.
This program is called the tax-free government pensions or benefits Data Matching Program and it enables the ATO:
- To identify and address non-compliance with taxation obligations of taxpayers incorrectly claiming related dependent tax offsets; and
- To be more strategic in its approach to determining appropriate educational and compliance strategies to encourage voluntary compliance for those tax offsets.
A document describing this program has been prepared in consultation with the Office of the Australian Information Commissioner. A copy of this document is available from:
Special Purpose Data Steward
Australian Taxation Office
PO Box 900,
Civic Square ACT, 2608
Attention: Nigel Coldrick
Reference: Tax-free government pensions or benefits data matching program
Or by email: SpecialPurposeDataSteward@ato.gov.au
The ATO complies with the Office of the Australian Information Commissioner’s The use of data matching in Commonwealth administration - Guidelines 1998 which includes standards for data matching to protect the privacy of individuals.