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Public notification of the program

Last updated 20 May 2021

We will notify the public of our intention to collect 2018–19 to 2022–23 financial years property management report data by:

  • publishing a notice in the Federal Register of Legislation gazettes in the week commencing 17 May 2021
  • publishing this data-matching program protocol on our website at ato.gov.au/dmprotocols
  • advising the data providers that they  
    • may notify their clients of their participation in this program
    • should update their privacy policies to note that personal information is disclosed to the ATO for data-matching purposes.

Gazette notice content

The following information about the data-matching program appears as a gazette notice in the Federal Register of Legislation.

Gazette notice: Commissioner of Taxation – Notice of a data-matching program

The Australian Taxation Office (ATO) will acquire property management data from property management software providers for the 2018–19 through to 2022–23 financial years. The data items include:

  • Property owner identification details  
    • unique ID
    • individual or non-individual names
    • business contact name(s) (if applicable)
    • addresses (residential, postal)
    • Australian business number (if applicable)
    • email address, contact phone numbers
    • BSB number, bank account number, bank account name.
  • Rental property details  
    • unique ID
    • address
    • date property first available for rent
    • rental income category
    • rental income amount
    • rental expense category
    • rental expense amount
    • net rent amount.
  • Property manager details  
    • business name
    • managing agent name (given and surname)
    • business addresses (business, postal, internet)
    • email address, contact phone numbers
    • ABN
    • licence number.

We estimate that records relating to approximately 1.6 million individuals will be obtained each financial year.

The data will be acquired and matched against ATO records to:

  • inform rental property owners of their taxation obligations as part of an information and education campaign
  • undertake compliance activity to protect the integrity of the tax system and ensure that everyone pays the correct amount of tax
  • inform designs that will make it easier for our clients to interact with the system and get their affairs right.

The objectives of this program are to:

  • help ensure that individuals and businesses are fulfilling their tax and superannuation reporting obligations
  • identify and educate those individuals and businesses who may be failing to meet their reporting obligations and assist them to comply with  
    • lodgment of tax returns
    • the correct reporting of rental income and the associated deductions
    • capital gains tax obligations for properties used to derive income
  • gain insights from the data that may help to develop and implement treatment strategies to improve voluntary compliance; which may include educational, behavioural or compliance activities of individuals and businesses that lease or let real property.

A document describing this program is available at ato.gov.au/dmprotocols.

This program follows the Office of the Australian Information Commissioner’s Guidelines on data matching in Australian Government administration (2014) (the guidelines). The guidelines include standards for the use data-matching as an administrative tool in a way that complies with the Australian Privacy Principles (APPs) and the Privacy Act 1988 (Privacy Act) and are consistent with good privacy practice.

A full copy of the ATO’s privacy policy can be accessed at ato.gov.au/privacy.

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