How we notify the public
We will notify the public of our intention to undertake this program by:
- publishing a notice in the Commonwealth government notices gazette in the week commencing 6 August 2018 - view the content of the gazette notice
- publishing this data-matching program protocol at Data-matching protocols
- advising data providers that they:
- can notify their users - accommodation providers of their participation in this program
- should update their privacy policies to note that personal information is disclosed to the ATO for data matching purposes.
Gazette notice
The following information about the data-matching program appears as a gazette notice in the Federal Register of Legislation.
Gazette notice: Commissioner of Taxation – Notice of a data-matching program
Online accommodation platforms enable members of the public to book and pay for accommodation services.
The Australian Taxation Office (ATO) will collect data under notice to identify individuals that have or may be engaged in providing accommodation services through an online platform during the 2016–17 to 2019–20 financial years.
The ATO will also acquire details of all payments made by the platform/s to accommodation providers including payments made by international entities for the 2016–17 to 2019–20 financial years.
The data acquired will be electronically matched with certain sections of ATO data holdings to identify taxpayers that can be provided with tailored information to help them meet their tax obligations, or to ensure compliance with taxation law.
The data to be collected may contain all or a selection of the fields listed for the 2016-17 to 2019-20 financial years:
From online platforms:
Listing owner and property details
- Name
- Contact details (postal address and telephone number(s))
- Date of birth
- Rental property address
- Listing ID
- Owner/listing manager
- Room or whole house listing
Financial transactions per listing
- Banking details
- Payment method
- Gross rental income
- Fees/commissions withheld
- Nights booked
Property activities
- Listing date
- Enquiry rates and responses
- Conversion rate (bookings/enquiries)
- Cancellations initiated by guests and host
- Host/owner block outs dates
- Price per night
- Minimum night booking
- Type of booking allowed: instant or contact
- Changes to the listing details, price change, condition change etc.
From financial institutions that the platform providers bank with:
Payee details
- Payee account name
- Payee BSB
- Payee account number
- Date of payment to the payee
- Amount of payment to the payee
It is estimated that records relating to up to 190,000 individuals will be obtained.
The purpose of this data-matching program is to ensure that taxpayers are correctly meeting their taxation obligations in relation to providing accommodation services. These obligations may include registration, lodgment, reporting and payment responsibilities.
The program objectives are to:
- Promote voluntary compliance and increase community confidence in the integrity of the tax system.
- Identify those individuals failing to meet their registration and/or lodgment obligations and assisting them to comply.
- Gain insights from the data that may help to develop and implement treatment strategies to improve voluntary compliance; which may include educational or compliance activities as appropriate.
- Obtain intelligence to increase the ATO’s understanding of the behaviours and compliance profiles of individuals providing accommodation services.
- Ensure compliance with registration, lodgment, correct reporting and payment of taxation 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 ato.gov.au/dmprotocols
The ATO complies with the Office of the Australian Information Commissioner’s (OAIC) (2014) Guidelines on data matching in Australian government administration which includes standards for data matching to protect the privacy of individuals. A full copy of the ATO’s privacy policy can be accessed at ato.gov.au/privacy.