Explanatory Memorandum
(Circulated by authority of the Treasurer, the Hon Josh Frydenberg MP)Chapter 2 - COVID-19 Disaster Payment: disclosure of tax information to Services Australia
Outline of chapter
2.1 Schedule 2 to the Bill makes amendments to the tax secrecy provisions in the Taxation Administration Act 1953 to allow tax information to be disclosed to Services Australia for the purposes of administering the COVID-19 Disaster Payment.
Context of amendments
2.2 On 3 June 2021, the Prime Minister, the Hon Scott Morrison MP, the Treasurer, the Hon Josh Frydenberg MP, and the Minister for Agriculture, Drought and Emergency Management, the Hon David Littleproud MP, jointly announced the establishment of the COVID-19 Disaster Payment.
2.3 The COVID-19 Disaster Payment will provide financial assistance to eligible workers who are unable to earn their usual income as a result of health restrictions (public health order) imposed by State or Territory governments, where the Commonwealth Chief Medical Officer has determined the location to be a COVID-19 hotspot for the purposes of Commonwealth support.
2.4 The payment will be administered by Services Australia and those eligible for the payment can apply for the COVID-19 Disaster Payment by lodging an application to Services Australia.
2.5 To assist Services Australia with administering the payment, including undertaking compliance activities, Schedule 2 of the Bill amends the Taxation Administration Act 1953 to provide that it is not an offence for a Taxation Officer to disclose protected information to the Chief Executive Officer of Services Australia where the information is disclosed for the purposes of administering the COVID-19 Disaster Payment.
Detailed explanation of new law
2.6 Section 355-25 in Schedule 1 to the Taxation Administration Act 1953 provides that it is an offence for a Taxation Officer to disclose or record information that is protected information acquired as a Taxation Officer.
2.7 Subsection 355-30(1) provides that protected information is information that was disclosed or obtained under or for the purposes of a taxation law that both relates to the affairs of an entity and identifies, or is reasonably capable of being used to identify, the entity.
2.8 Schedule 2 to the Bill inserts new table item 11 into the table in subsection 355-65(2) in Schedule 1 to the Taxation Administration Act 1953 to include an additional purpose for which protected information can be disclosed. [Schedule 2, item 1, table item 11, subsection 355-65(2) in Schedule 1 to the Taxation Administration Act 1953]
2.9 A defendant bears the evidential burden in relation to the matters in this exception. The reversal of the burden of proof is consistent with the Attorney-General's Department's A Guide to Framing Commonwealth Offences, Infringement Notices and Enforcement Powers, September 2011 edition.
2.10 It is appropriate that the evidential burden be reversed in this situation. Matters relating to the disclosure of protected information and for which purposes (such as what information is being disclosed and for what purpose the disclosure is being made) are peculiarly within the knowledge of the person making the disclosure and can be raised in making their defence. It would be significantly more difficult and costly for the prosecution to disprove these facts.
Application and transitional provisions
2.11 The amendments made by Schedule 2 to the Bill apply to records or disclosures of information made on or after the day the Act receives the Royal Assent, whether the information was obtained before, at or after that day.