New technology has changed all our lives, many times for the better.  But did you know that improved technology and agreements now allows the Australian Taxation Office to better detect tax fraud?

The ATO collects data from other agencies, whilst complying with strict privacy laws. They can go back several years and find out information from –

• The Australian Electoral Commission – about where you live.
• Contractor Payments – made to contractors by businesses.
• Covid-19 Economic Support – JobKeeper payments, early access to superannuation, cash flow boosts
• Credit and Debit Card Matching – to identify businesses that are not meeting their tax obligations including registration, lodgement, reporting and repayment responsibilities.
• Cryptocurrency – They are seeking to obtain data relating to cryptocurrency transactions.
• Higher Education Loan Scheme, Vocational Education and Training Student Loan and Trade Support Loans – to ensure those earning over the $51,957 threshold are paying the loans back.
• Department of Human Services – family tax benefits B, paid parental leave scheme, carer’s allowance, Medicare entitlements.
• Department of Home Affairs – visas granted.
• Lifestyle Assets – insurance policies on marine vessels, motor vehicles, thoroughbred horses, fine art, and aircraft
• Motor Vehicle Registries – to assess the overall tax compliance of individuals and businesses involved in buying and selling motor vehicles. Checking luxury car tax, fringe benefits tax and fuel schemes, and those do not declare enough income to afford their vehicle….
• Online Selling – collect details of online selling platform registrants that earned over a certain threshold $10k-$12k.
• Real Property Transactions – use property transaction data from the state and territory revenue and land title authorities to assist taxpayers in paying capital gains tax and other taxation obligations.
• Rental Bonds – rental bond data to calculate capital gains tax and reporting of rental income.
• Ride Sourcing – to ensure drivers meet their registration, lodgement, reporting and payment obligations.
• Share Transactions – to ensure compliance with taxation obligations on the disposal of shares and similar securities.
• Sharing Economy Accommodation – to ensure people renting a room, their home while they are away or an investment property through web or app-based platforms meet their taxation obligations.
• Specialised Payment Systems – to obtain data on electronic payments.
• Taxable Government Grants and Payments – reporting government grants and payments to the ATO.

If you would like to find out more about data matching you can go to https://www.ato.gov.au/general/gen/data-matching-protocols/

So, on one hand, having all this information feed into the ATO makes preparing at tax return easier, but it sure does make sure that you are declaring everything you need to be and the right amount!