Motor vehicle registries data overview
We compare the motor vehicle registries data obtained from the state and territory motor vehicle registry authorities with our internal data holdings to identify relevant cases for administrative action.
Details will be requested from the state and territory motor vehicle registering authorities where their records indicate a vehicle has been transferred or newly registered during the identified financial years and the purchase price or market value is equal to or greater than $10,000. This threshold is consistent with earlier programs and was determined by review of vehicle price trends and cost/benefit assessment.
We will determine a tax compliance risk profile of taxpayers buying, selling or acquiring motor vehicles and provide us with information to:
- deliver products and tailored education strategies to support taxpayers in managing their tax obligations, and
- identify taxpayers at risk of not complying with their tax or superannuation obligations for referral to relevant areas for appropriate treatment.
In cases where taxpayers fail to comply with these obligations even after being prompted and reminded of them, escalation for prosecution action may be initiated in some circumstances.
Where a taxpayer is correctly meeting their obligations, the use of the data will reduce the likelihood of contact from us.
Previous related programs
The continued collection of motor vehicle registries data will be used to support ongoing compliance checks for luxury car tax, fringe benefits tax and fuel schemes, as well as identifying higher risk taxpayers with outstanding lodgments and those with undeclared income.
The data is used in conjunction with other data sources in our risk detection models and profiling tools to generate compliance actions for tax officer review.
Data providers
We are the matching agency and, in most cases the sole user of the data obtained during this data-matching program.
Data will be obtained from the following 8 state and territory motor vehicle registry authorities:
- Australian Capital Territory – Access Canberra
- New South Wales – Transport for NSW
- Northern Territory – Department of Infrastructure, Planning and Logistics
- Queensland – Department of Transport and Main Roads
- South Australia – Department for Infrastructure and Transport
- Tasmania – Department of State Growth, Vehicle Registration and Licencing Branch
- Victoria – Department of Transport and Planning
- Western Australia – Department of Transport
To ensure statutory requirements are met, we obtain data under our formal information gathering powers. These are contained in section 353-10 of Schedule 1 to the Taxation Administration Act 1953.
This is a coercive power, and data providers are obligated to provide the information requested.
We will use the data for tax and superannuation compliance purposes.
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 collect
We will collect data from the state and territory motor vehicle registry authorities for the 2022–23, 2023–24 and 2024–25 financial years.
We negotiate with the selected data providers individually to obtain data held in their systems. The data collected may contain all or a selection of the fields listed below.
Client details
Identification details of the purchasers, sellers, licenced dealer, fleet manager, leasing company (or representative of any of these) and the registering person for an unincorporated body include:
- Name – individual
- Name – business (legal and trading)
- Address (including postcode) – residential, business (for legal notices), postal (for renewals)
- Date of birth – (individuals)
- Contact phone number
- Australian business number (if applicable)
- Australian company number (if applicable)
Based on experience from previous motor vehicle registries data-matching programs, the majority of transactions involve only a single seller and single buyer.
Transaction details
Transaction details include:
- Date of transaction
- Type of transaction (e.g. new registration, transfer)
- Sale price of the vehicle
- Market value of the vehicle
- Vehicle’s garage address
- Type of intended vehicle use (e.g. private, business)
- Vehicle make
- Vehicle model
- Vehicle body type
- Year of manufacture
- Engine capacity or number of cylinders
- Tare weight (unladen weight)
- Gross weight (gross vehicle mass and/or gross combination mass)
- Vehicle identification number (chassis number)
- Registration number
- Transaction receipt number
- State stamp duty exemption (yes or no)
- Reason for stamp duty exemption
- Dealer’s licence number
Number of records
We expect to collect data on approximately 1.5 million individuals each financial year for this program.
Data quality
We anticipate that the data quality will be of a high standard based on our prior motor vehicle data-matching programs.
Data is transformed into a standardised format and validated to ensure that it contains the required data elements prior to loading to our computer systems. We undertake program evaluations to measure effectiveness before determining whether to continue to collect future years of data or to discontinue the program.
Data retention
We collect data under this program for all financial years from 2016–17 to 2024–25. We collect this data annually following the end of each financial year.
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 destroy data that is no longer required in accordance with the Archives Act 1983, and the records authorities issued by the National Archives of Australia, for both general and ATO-specific data.
The collection of 2016–17 to 2018–19 financial years was conducted between May 2018 and January 2020. The ATO was granted exemption by the Privacy Commissioner in 2018 to retain the 2016–17 to 2018–19 data for 3 years. The exemption request was required to satisfy the National Archives of Australia's General Disposal Authority 24 (GDA24) – Records relating to data matching exercises. GDA24 has been revoked; as such further exemption requests were not required.
We retain each financial year’s data for 5 years from receipt of the final instalment of verified data files from the data providers. The data is required for this period for the protection of public revenue as:
- The discrepancy matching that occurs under parts of this program is iterative in nature. For example, one discrepancy match may be used in subsequent and different matching processes. This process can typically occur over multiple financial years.
- 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 superannuation systems.
- Retaining 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 keep their records.
- The data is also used in multiple risk models, including models that establish retrospective profiles over multiple years aligned with period of review.
- Retaining the data for 5 years will support our ability to conduct longer term analysis of the risks associated with asset accumulation.
While increased data retention periods may increase the risk to privacy, we have a range of safeguards to manage and minimise this. Our systems and controls are designed to ensure the privacy and security of the data we manage.