ATO Increased Data Matching

On 14 December 2011, the ATO gazetted notices advising that it will conduct 2 data-matching programs.

Motor vehicles

The ATO said it will request and collect details of individuals or businesses that have purchased or acquired a vehicle for the period 1 July 2010 to 30 June 2011 from various motor registries. It said the data-matching program will identify all motor vehicles sold, transferred, or newly registered in the 2010-11 financial year where the transfer and/or market value is $10,000 or more.

The ATO said records relating to approximately 2.7m individuals will be matched. It said the program's aim is to address the compliance behaviour of taxpayers to identify potential non-compliance by:

• identifying taxpayers whose expenditure is in excess of their reported income;
• identifying businesses that sell vehicles and do not report, or under-report those sales;
• obtaining intelligence to increase the ATO's understanding of the behaviours and compliance profile of buyers and sellers; and
• developing and implementing strategies to improve voluntary compliance, including educational or audit activities as appropriate.

Credit and debit cards

The ATO said it will request and collect data relating to credit and debit card sales of entities within various industries for the period 1 July 2010 to 30 June 2011 from banking and credit card organisations. It said the data-matching program will identify transactions conducted for all merchants with a turnover of less than $10m in the 2010-11 financial year.

The ATO said records relating to approximately 400,000 entities will be matched. It said the program's aim is to identify potential non-compliance with registration, reporting, lodgment and payment obligations. In particular, the ATO said it is aiming to identify businesses that:

• are not reporting any or all of their income;
• may be running a part of their normal business activities off the books or operating underground by avoiding their obligations to register and lodge returns.

The ATO said those businesses identified as being at risk of potentially skimming cash takings, or in other ways not reporting their income, should contact the ATO to make a voluntary disclosure. It said the ATO may issue default assessments of tax liabilities in instances where businesses fail to comply with their obligations.