Commissioner of Taxation
NOTICE OF A DATA MATCHING PROGRAM
This notice replaces the previous notice published in the Commonwealth government notices gazette 4 of 2013 published on 30 January 2013.
The Australian Taxation Office (ATO) will acquire details of entities receiving taxable payments from local government authorities in the 2010-11, 2011-12, 2012-13 and 2013-14 financial years from the following sources:
- Various local government Council and Shire authorities throughout;
- Queensland
- New South Wales
- Victoria
- Tasmania
- South Australia
- Western Australia
- Northern Territory
These will be electronically matched with certain sections of ATO data holdings to identify non compliance with lodgment and payment obligations under taxation law. Records matched is expected to relate to 20,000 to 40,000 individuals.
This program is called the Local Government Payments (2011, 2012, 2013 and 2014 financial years) Data Matching Program and it enables the ATO:
- To identify and test the correct taxation reporting by recipients of government payments across the local level of government; and
- To identify areas that require improved educational and compliance strategies to encourage voluntary compliance for recipients of government payments.
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 by email from SpecialPurposeDataSteward@ato.gov.au (Reference: Local Government Payments Data Matching Program)
The ATO complies with the Office of the Australian Information Commissioner’s Guidelines on Data Matching in Commonwealth Administration which includes standards for data matching to protect the privacy of individuals.