ATO Expands Data Matching Program to Target High-Value Lifestyle Assets

The Commissioner of Taxation has released a Gazette notice advising the Australian Taxation Office (ATO) will acquire data from insurance providers for 2023-24 through to 2025-26 financial years. The Commissioner has stated the intended purpose of the program is for improving the ATO’s compliance risk profiling of taxpayers and provide a holistic view of their assets and accumulated wealth.

Specifically, the ATO has outlined that the program will allow the ATO to identify tax risks including:

Omitted or incorrect reporting of income and capital gains;
Incorrectly claiming GST credits;
Omitted or incorrect reporting of Fringe Benefits Tax (FBT); and,
Use of assets by self-managed super funds in breach of the law.

Additionally, the ATO will use the data to determine avenues available to assist with debt management activities.

Insurance policy data will be collected for the following classes of assets, where the asset value is equal to or exceeds the nominated thresholds.

Asset class	Minimum asset value threshold
Caravans and motorhomes	$65,000
Motor vehicles including: - cars and trucks - motorcycles	$65,000
Thoroughbred horses	$65,000
Fine art	$100,000 per item
Marine vessels	$100,000
Aircraft	$150,000

The data items provided by the insurers to the ATO include:

Client identification details (names, addresses, phone numbers, dates of birth, Australian business number, email address).
Policy details (insurance brand name, policy number, policy inception date, start date of current policy, end date of current policy, last date policy was updated, total value insured, purchase price of the property insured, registration or identification number of the property, vehicle details (year, make, model), finance, policy cost, description of the property insured, primary use type).

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Written by Kylie Wright

03 Oct 2024

Tax