Commissioner of Taxation

NOTICE OF A DATA MATCHING PROGRAM

The Australian Taxation Office (ATO) requests and collects information in relation to payments made to contractors for the 2009-2010 to the 2011-2012 income years by businesses audited by the ATO employer obligations area. Data will also be collected from businesses being audited by the ATO employer obligations area in 2012-2013.

The collected information will be electronically matched with certain sections of ATO data holdings to identify non compliance with lodgment and reporting obligations under taxation law. Records relating to approximately 75,000 individuals and entities who have received contract payments from the employers or businesses will be matched.

This program is called the Contractor Payments data matching program and it enables the ATO:

·         To identify  and address the compliance behaviour of contractors who may not be correctly meeting their taxation obligations; and

·         To be more strategic in its approach to determine appropriate educational and compliance strategies to encourage voluntary compliance for contractors.

This program also allows the Registrar to verify the integrity of the information held on the Australian Business Register.

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 from:

Contractor payments Data Matching Program

Australian Taxation Office

GPO Box 9977Perth

WA      6848

Or by emailing a request to: nick.petrie@ato.gov.au

Or by phoning (08) 9268 5433

The ATO complies with the Office of the Australian Information Commissioner’s The use of data matching in Commonwealth administration - Guidelines 1998  which includes standards for data matching to protect the privacy of individuals.