How we use the data
For this data-matching program, we will match data on government payments made to service providers against ATO records.
The data collected under this program will be used for:
- identifying and addressing tax and super risks, trends and non-compliance by service providers receiving government payments for delivering services
- supporting government entities by providing feedback at an aggregate agency or program level and, where allowed by legislation, at an individual provider level
- methodologies by which we select taxpayers for engagement activities
- enhancing data currently received from government entities through the Taxable Payments Annual Report.
We will not use the data-matching program data to initiate automated actions or activities.
Previous related programs
We have been conducting the government payments program data-matching program since 2019.
In 2019, we commenced a pilot involving several government entities to assess the risk to tax revenue from payments to service providers. The pilot:
- sampled data on government payments provided to service providers for the 2017–18 and 2018–19 income years
- provided a view of integrity risk across the 4 tax pillars of registration, reporting, lodgment and payment
- allowed the ATO to provide the participating government entities with aggregate reports showing levels of compliance with tax obligations by the service providers operating within their programs
- confirmed the data quality was suitable to meet the objectives of the data-matching program.
The previous protocol for this program was published in October 2021 and covered data collection from the 2017–18 to 2022–23 financial years.
This protocol outlines our intention to continue collecting government payments program data from the 2023–24 to 2025–26 financial years.
Data providers
We are the matching agency and the primary user of the data obtained during this data-matching program.
We currently obtain data from the following agencies and programs:
- Clean Energy Regulator
- Large-scale Renewable Energy Target
- Small-scale Renewable Energy Scheme
- Department of Education
- Child Care Subsidy
- Department of Employment and Workplace Relations VET Student Loans Program
- Department of Health and Aged Care (formerly Department of Health)
- Aged Care Subsidy
- Hearing Services Program
- Department of Veterans' Affairs
- Health treatment programs
- National Disability Insurance Agency
- National Disability Insurance Scheme
We have previously obtained data from the following agencies and programs:
- Comcare
- services provided under Safety Rehabilitation and Compensation Act 1988
- Department of Employment and Workplace Relations
- VET FEE-HELP Scheme
- Employment Services
- Department of Health and Aged Care (formally Department of Health)
- Commonwealth Home Support Programme
- Department of Home Affairs
- Youth Transition Support services
- National Community Hubs
- Humanitarian Settlement Program
- Australian Cultural Orientation Program
- Adult Migrant English Program
- Free Translating Service
- Settlement Engagement and Transition Support Program
- National Indigenous Australians Agency
- Indigenous Advancement Strategy
Eligibility as a data provider
We adopt a principles-based approach to ensure our selection of data providers is fair and transparent.
Inclusion of a data provider is based on the following principles:
- The data owner facilitates a government program in Australia that is governed by Australian law.
- The data owner makes payments for services delivered by providers which support the administration of their program.
- The data owner provided or will provide payment data for the years in focus.
If the client base of a data provider does not present a risk, or the administrative or financial cost of collecting the data exceeds the benefit the data may provide, the data owner may be excluded from the program.
The data providers for this program will be reviewed annually against the eligibility principles.
Our formal information gathering powers
To ensure statutory requirements are met, the data will be obtained under our formal information gathering powers contained in section 353-10 of Schedule 1 to the Taxation Administration Act 1953.
This is a coercive power that obligates the data providers to provide the information requested.
Data provider disclosures
Some participating government agencies also rely on their own disclosure provisions within the data provider's legislation as listed below:
- Department of Health and Aged Care – Section 86-3 of the Aged Care Act 1997
- National Disability Insurance Agency – Sub-paragraph 66(1)(b)(i) of the National Disability Insurance Scheme Act 2013
- Clean Energy Regulator – Section 49 of the Clean Energy Regulator Act 2011
- Department of Education– Subsection 168(1)(a) of A New System Assistance (Administration) Act 1999 (Cth) and paragraphs 9, 15 and 16 of the Family Assistance (Public Interest Certificate Guidelines) (Education) Determination 2018
Privacy Act
Data will only be used within the limits prescribed by Australian Privacy Principle 6 (APP6) contained in Schedule 1 of the Privacy Act and in particular:
- APP6.2(b) – the use of the information is required or authorised by an Australian law
- APP6.2(e) – the ATO reasonably believes that the use of the information is reasonably necessary for our enforcement-related activities.
Data elements we collected
We collect data from government agencies on payments made to service providers.
We anticipate that the data quality will be suitable to meet the needs of the data-matching program based on data acquired to date. Integrity checks are conducted to confirm the quality of the data and administrators of government programs have sophisticated computer systems and regulatory obligations to maintain the quality of their records.
We negotiate with the selected data providers individually to obtain data held within their systems. The collected data may contain all or a selection of the fields listed below. This list may evolve as different data elements are identified.
Service provider identification details – individuals
Service provider data elements for individuals that we collect include:
- service provider given names and surnames
- dates of birth
- addresses (residential, postal, other)
- Australian business number (ABN) – if applicable
- service type
- email address
- contact phone number.
Service provider identification details – non-individuals
Service provider identification data elements for non-individuals that we collect include:
- service provider business name
- addresses (business, postal, registered, other)
- Australian business number
- Australian company number (ACN) – if applicable
- organisation or service type
- contact name
- email address
- contact phone number.
Payment transaction details
Payment transaction data elements that we collect include:
- service provider ID
- name of service
- type of service (linked to program)
- value of payments received for the relevant financial years
- count of claim
- type of claim
- withholding and re-credit amount.
Number of records
This data collection is expected to obtain details on approximately 60,000 service providers each financial year.
Within this 60,000, we expect there will be approximately 9,000 individuals each financial year. The remainder will consist of companies, partnerships, trusts and government entities.
Data retention
We collect data under this program for all financial years from 2017–18 to 2025–26. We collect this data annually.
Due to the number of data providers, we collect data periodically. We work with the data providers and aim to balance our requests against peaks and troughs of demand in a data provider's own business.
We retain each financial year’s data for 5 years when we receive the final instalment of verified data files from the data providers.
The data is required to be kept for five years to protect public revenue:
- Retaining data for 5 years enables us to conduct long-term trend analysis of government payment data to identify risks and develop treatment strategies to help improve the integrity of government payments.
- The data enhances our ability to identify taxpayers who may not be complying with their tax and super obligations, which is integral to protecting the integrity of the tax and super systems.
- Retaining the data for 5 years supports our general compliance approach of reviewing an assessment within the standard period of review and aligns with the requirements for taxpayers to maintain their records.
- The data is also used in multiple risk models, including models that establish retrospective profiles over multiple years aligned with the period of review.
While increased data-retention periods may increase the risk to privacy, we have a range of safeguards to appropriately manage and minimise this. ATO systems and controls are designed to ensure the privacy and security of the data we manage.