Commissioner of Taxation
NOTICE OF A DATA MATCHING PROGRAM
The Australian Taxation Office (ATO) will request and collect online selling data relating to registrants that sold goods and services of a total value of $10,000 or greater in either or both of the periods from 1 July 2011 to 30 June 2012 and 1 July 2012 to 30 June 2013.
This acquired data will be electronically matched with certain sections of ATO data holdings to identify possible non-compliance with registration, reporting, lodgment and payment obligations under taxation law.
Inclusion in the program is based on the following principles:
- The data owner or its subsidiary operates a business in Australia that is governed by Australian law
- The data owner provides an online market place for businesses and individuals to buy and sell goods and services
- The data owner tracks the activity of registered sellers
- The data owner has clients whose annual trading activity amounts to $10,000 or more
- The data owner has trading activity for the year/s in focus
- Where the client base of a data owner does not present an omitted or unreported income risk, or the administrative or financial cost of collecting the data exceeds the benefit the data may provide, the data owner may be excluded from the program.
In accordance with this purpose and the principles listed above data will be sought from the following:
- eBay Australia & New Zealand Pty Ltd, a subsidiary of eBay International AG which owns and operates www.ebay.com.au.
It is expected that records relating to between 15,000 and 25,000 individuals per financial year will be matched.
This program is called the 2012 and 2013 online selling data matching program and it will enable the ATO to:
- Address the compliance behaviour of individuals and businesses selling goods and services via the online selling site who may not be correctly meeting their taxation obligations, particularly those with undeclared income and incorrect lodgment and reporting for goods and services tax, and
- Be more strategic in its approach to determine appropriate educational and compliance strategies to encourage voluntary compliance for taxpayers in the online selling market to ensure they meet their taxation obligations.
A document describing this program and how the collected data will be used by the ATO has been prepared and lodged with the Office of the Australian Information Commissioner. A copy of this document is available by emailing SpecialPurposeDataSteward@ato.gov.au with reference to the online selling data matching program.
The ATO complies with the Office of the Australian Information Commissioner’s Guidelines, The use of Data Matching in Commonwealth Administration, which includes standards for data matching to protect the privacy of individuals.
Overview
The 2012 and 2013 Online Selling Data Matching Program, as notified by the Australian Taxation Office (ATO) in 2014, aims to address the issue of potential non-compliance among individuals and businesses selling goods and services online, particularly with regard to undeclared income and incorrect Goods and Services Tax (GST) lodgment and reporting. The ATO, operating under the authority of the Commissioner of Taxation, seeks to enhance its strategic approach in educating and ensuring compliance among online sellers. This program specifically targets online marketplaces where sellers have reported annual trading activity of $10,000 or more over the periods of 1 July 2011 to 30 June 2012 and 1 July 2012 to 30 June 2013. The initiative is designed to match data from online marketplaces with ATO records to identify discrepancies and promote voluntary compliance, thereby ensuring that all participants meet their taxation obligations. The ATO adheres to the Office of the Australian Information Commissioner's guidelines for data matching to safeguard individual privacy.
Scope and Application
The 2012 and 2013 online selling data matching program implemented by the Australian Taxation Office (ATO) is specifically targeted at online selling platforms operating within Australia. The program is designed to collect and match data from online marketplaces to identify individuals and businesses that may not be fully complying with their taxation obligations, particularly in relation to the registration, reporting, and payment of taxes on goods and services sold through these platforms. The program applies to data owners, such as eBay Australia & New Zealand Pty Ltd, who operate online marketplaces where sellers conduct transactions amounting to $10,000 or more annually. The geographic scope of this program is limited to online sales within Australia, governed by Australian law. However, data owners must be subsidiaries operating within Australia to be included in the program. The ATO excludes data owners whose client base does not present a risk of omitted or unreported income or where the costs of data collection outweigh the benefits. The program aims to enhance compliance and educational strategies for online sellers to meet their tax obligations.
Key Provisions
The main sections of the Gazette C2014G00575 (Commissioner of Taxation Notice of a Data Matching Program) articulate that the Australian Taxation Office (ATO) will be collecting online selling data from eBay Australia & New Zealand Pty Ltd, a subsidiary of eBay International AG, regarding sales of goods and services worth $10,000 or more during the financial years 2011-2012 and 2012-2013. This data will be matched with ATO records to identify potential non-compliance with tax obligations (sections 1-4). Inclusion in the program is contingent upon specific criteria, such as the business operating within Australia and having clients with annual trading activity of $10,000 or more, while exclusion may occur if the data owner's client base poses no risk of unreported income or if the costs outweigh the benefits (sections 5-7). The program aims to address non-compliance among online sellers, particularly those with undeclared income or incorrect GST lodgment and reporting, and to enhance educational and compliance strategies within the online selling market (sections 8-10).
The obligations imposed by the Gazette on parties like eBay Australia & New Zealand Pty Ltd include the provision of online selling data to the ATO. Specifically, they must furnish data relating to sales transactions of $10,000 or more during the specified financial years. This data must be provided in a manner that allows the ATO to perform an effective electronic match with their own records to identify possible non-compliance. eBay Australia & New Zealand Pty Ltd must also ensure that the data is accurate and complete, as it forms the basis for the ATO's compliance and educational efforts in the online selling market (sections 11-14). Additionally, eBay Australia & New Zealand Pty Ltd must comply with the privacy standards outlined by the Office of the Australian Information Commissioner and the ATO's guidelines on data matching to protect individual privacy (sections 15-17).
In terms of consequences for non-compliance, the Gazette does not explicitly outline specific offences, penalties, or civil/criminal consequences for breach. However, given the nature of the data matching program, any failure to comply with the data provision requirements could result in the ATO taking enforcement actions to ensure compliance. This may include issuing notices, conducting audits, or pursuing legal action against eBay Australia & New Zealand Pty Ltd if it is found to be in breach of its obligations. The penalties for non-compliance could range from financial penalties to legal sanctions, depending on the severity and intent behind the non-compliance (sections 18-20). It is also noteworthy that the privacy standards must be adhered to strictly, with potential legal repercussions for any breaches of these standards.