Explanatory Statement

Issued by the authority of the Assistant Treasurer

Taxation Administration Amendment Regulations 2011 (No. 5)

Subject - Taxation Administration Act 1953

Section 18 of the Taxation Administration Act 1953 (the Act) provides that the Governor-General may make regulations, not inconsistent with the Act, prescribing all matters required or permitted by the Act to be prescribed, or which are necessary or convenient to be prescribed, for carrying out or giving effect to the Act.

Subsection 355-70(12) of Schedule 1 to the Act provides that the regulations may prescribe a taskforce as authorised to receive protected information, provided that a major purpose of the taskforce is to protect the public finances of Australia.

The Regulations amend the Taxation Administration Regulations 1976 to prescribe the Criminal Assets Confiscation Taskforce (CACT) and the National Criminal Intelligence Fusion Centre (Fusion Centre) as taskforces that may receive protected information for or in connection with a purpose of the taskforce.

The interim CACT was established in 2011 to bring together agencies that investigate and litigate proceeds of crime matters, and is expected to be permanently established in early 2012. The Fusion Centre was established in 2010 to maximise the effective use of Commonwealth data holdings, and to facilitate intelligence sharing in relation to serious and organised crime.

Both the CACT and the Fusion Centre have as one of their key objectives the protection of Australia's public finances.

Consultations on the Regulations were undertaken with the Australian Taxation Office as well as the Department of the Prime Minister and Cabinet. The Office of Best Practice Regulation advised that a Regulation Impact Statement was not required to be prepared in relation to this minor regulatory change.

As the Regulations are machinery in nature and do not substantially alter existing arrangements, pursuant to paragraph 18(2)(a) of the Legislative Instruments Act 2003 (LIA 2003), public consultation was considered unnecessary.

Details of the Regulations are set out in the Attachment .

The Regulations constitute a legislative instrument for the purposes of the LIA 2003, and commence on the day after they are registered on the Federal Register of Legislative Instruments.

Authority : Section 18 of the Taxation Administration Act 1953

ATTACHMENT

Details of the Taxation Administration Amendment Regulations 2011 (No. 5)

Regulation 1 - Name of Regulations

This regulation provides that the title of the Regulations is the Taxation Administration Amendment Regulations 2011 (No. 5)

Regulation 2 - Commencement

This regulation provides for the Regulations to commence on the day after they are registered.

Regulation 3 - Amendment of Taxation Administration Regulations 1976

This regulation provides that the Taxation Administration Regulations 1976 (the Principal Regulations) are amended as set out in Schedule 1.

Schedule 1 - Amendments

Item [1] - Regulation 48

This item inserts a new Part 6A into the Principal Regulations which will contain a table prescribing the Criminal Assets Confiscation Taskforce and the National Criminal Intelligence Fusion Centre as taskforces for the purposes of subsection 355-70(12) of Schedule 1 to the Taxation Administration Act 1953.