We are authorised by the Taxation Administration Act 1953 to ask for a tax file number (TFN), including the TFN of a trust beneficiary (or beneficiaries). We will use the TFN to identify taxpayers in our records. It is not an offence not to provide a TFN but if you don't your return may take longer to process.
We are also authorised by the Income Tax Assessment Act 1936 and the Income Tax Assessment Act 1997 (among others) to ask for other information on the Family trust election, revocation or variation form. We need this information to help us administer tax law. If the information is not collected, there could be a delay in processing your return.
Where authorised by law, we may give this information to other government departments and agencies, including:
- Department of Education
- Department of Employment
- Department of Social Services
- Services Australia
- State and Federal Police
- Australian Bureau of Statistics
- Reserve Bank of Australia.
We also provide taxpayer information to treaty partners overseas under international tax agreements.
If you have an Australian business number, some information on this form may be collected under the A New Tax System (Australian Business Number Act) 1999 and will be used to update your details on the Australian Business Register (ABR)External Link. Where authorised by law, selected information may be made publicly available and some may be passed to a wide range of government agencies, including Commonwealth, state and local government agencies.
Our privacy policy contains important information about your privacy, including information about how you can access and seek correction of information we hold about you, how to make a complaint if you think we have breached the Australian Privacy Principles and how we will deal with any privacy complaints.
If you have a privacy concern or need more information, phone or write to our privacy hotline.
To report an instance where you suspect your privacy has been compromised, see Data breach guidance for individuals.