Share market transactions data matching

The share market transaction capital gains tax project aims to improve our compliance capability in relation to capital gains tax on the disposal of shares.

This data matching protocol relates to the data holdings of the:

• ASX Limited
• Computershare Limited
• Link Market Services Limited
• Advanced Share Registry Services Ltd
• Registries Limited.

To improve taxpayer compliance with tax obligations, we propose to match the data maintained by these organisations with our own.

Our intention is to undertake this type of data matching on an ongoing basis. To that end, we will seek agreement from these organisations to provide data in accordance with an agreed delivery program.

Objectives

The intention of this project is to systematically develop an understanding of the share market and to confirm that entities generally are correctly complying with their tax obligations relating to share market transactions. While income tax obligations are the primary focus, issues around goods and services tax will also be considered.

Specifically, the proposed data matching program will:

• catalogue the external data holdings of the key organisations associated with share market activities
• develop and maintain relationships with key organisations associated with share market activities
• improve our intelligence and research capability in relation to income tax and goods and services obligations
• identify key leverage points for our possible intervention
• assess the correctness of lodged income tax returns in relation to capital gains and income from the disposal/sale of shares
• ensure those entities that should be registered for goods and services tax are registered
• increase taxpayer and tax agent understanding and awareness of their compliance obligations
• identify income tax returns that should have been lodged to have tax assessed on capital gains or income from share transactions. The follow-up action could include tax file number registration and/or income tax return lodgment demand
• reliably measure the activity and risk in the share market
• develop a series of metrics for use in the evaluation of our compliance strategies
• develop lead indicators that provide insight into emerging issues and trends
• identify potential changes that could be made to our data holdings to improve our data matching capability, and
• provide reliable data to inform the government of both the potential costs and benefits of possible law changes.