Commissioner of Taxation
Notice of a data matching program
Taxpayers owning property producing income have income tax reporting obligations. When a property producing income is subsequently disposed of it triggers a CGT event. Property is often held for many years before being transferred or sold. To identify rental income impacts for CGT liability assessment real property rental bond data dating back to 20 September 1985 (the introduction of the CGT regime) is required.
The Australian Taxation Office (ATO) will collect data under notice to identify individuals that have income tax reporting obligations for income producing properties or have a Capital Gains Tax event arising from the sale of real property for the period 20 September 1985 to the 2019-20 financial year.
The data acquired will be electronically matched with certain sections of ATO data holdings to identify taxpayers that can be provided with tailored information to help them meet their tax obligations, or to ensure compliance with taxation law.
The Australian Taxation Office (ATO) will acquire rental bond data for the period 20 September 1985 to 30 June 2020 from the following sources:
■ New South Wales Office of Fair Trading – Rental Bond Board
■ Residential Tenancies Bond Authority – Consumer Affairs Victoria
■ Tenancies SA - Consumer and Business Services
■ Bond Administrator – Department of Commerce WA
■ ACT Office of Rental Bonds – Access Canberra
■ Rental Deposit Authority - Consumer Building and Occupational Standards (Tasmania)
■ Residential Tenancies Authority, Queensland
The data to be collected may contain all or a selection of the fields listed for the specified financial years:
■ Rental bond number of identifier for rental bond
■ Unique identifier for the landlord
■ Full name of the landlord
■ Full address of the landlord
■ Date of birth of the landlord
■ Contact telephone numbers for the landlord
■ Unique identifier of the managing agent
■ Full name of the managing agent
■ Full address of the managing agent
■ Unique identifier of the rental property
■ Full address of the rental property
■ Period of lease
■ Commencement and expiration of the lease
■ Amount of rental bond held
■ Number of weeks the rental bond is for
■ Amount of rent payable for each period
■ Period of rental payments (weekly, fortnightly, monthly)
■ Type of dwelling
■ Number of bedrooms
It is estimated that the total number of records obtained will be around 1 million for each financial year. It is further estimated that these records will identify around 900,000 individuals.
The objectives of this data matching program are to:
■ promote voluntary compliance and strengthen community confidence in the integrity of the taxation and superannuation systems and other programs administered by the ATO
■ obtain intelligence about real property producing income and identify risks and trends of non-compliance across the broader compliance program
■ identify a range of compliance activities appropriate to address risks with real property dealings by taxpayers
■ work with real property intermediaries to obtain an understanding of risks and issues as well as trends of non-compliance
■ support compliance strategies to minimise future risks to revenue
■ Ensure compliance with registration, lodgment, correct reporting and payment responsibilities, superannuation and other obligations.
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 at www.ato.gov.au/dmprotocols
The ATO complies with the Office of the Australian Information Commissioner’s Guidelines on Data Matching in Australian Government Administration (2014) which includes standards for data matching to protect the privacy of individuals. A full copy of the ATO’s privacy policy can be accessed at www.ato.gov.au/privacy |