Commissioner of Taxation

Notice of a data matching program

The Australian Taxation Office (ATO) will acquire details of individuals in receipt of family tax benefit part B, paid parental leave, carer allowance and Medicare entitlement statements from the Department of Human Services (Centrelink and Medicare) for the 2014–15, 2015–16 and 2016–17 financial years.

The data items that will be obtained are personal details of:

• individuals in receipt of family tax benefit part B, including spouse and children details
• employers and employees in receipt of paid parental leave
• individuals in receipt of carer allowance and carer allowance health care card and the individuals being cared for
• individuals in receipt of a Medicare entitlement statement.

It is estimated that records for more than 2 million individuals will be obtained for each financial year.

These records will be electronically matched with ATO data holdings to identify non-compliance with registration, lodgment, reporting and payment obligations under taxation laws.

The objectives of this data matching program are to:

• Ensure that taxpayers are correctly claiming entitlement to invalid and invalid carer tax offset and exemption from payment of the Medicare levy and Medicare care levy surcharge
• Work with taxpayers and intermediaries to obtain a better understanding of the identified risks and trends on non-compliance
• Develop education strategies so that compliance is better understood and compliance is easier in the future
• Expedite the processing of income tax returns and payment of refunds to taxpayers who are genuinely entitled to claim these offsets and exemptions
• Undertake verification activities where the information obtained indicates a taxpayer may not be entitled to claim the offset or exemption, either partly or in its entirety
• Ensure compliance with registration, lodgement, correct reporting and payment of taxation and superannuation 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