Your rights

It is important that you are aware of your rights and obligations when dealing with us. If we intend to undertake a compliance activity in relation to your tax affairs, we will advise you about your rights and obligations by providing information set out in the Taxpayers' charter – what you need to know.

Privacy and confidentiality

The Privacy Act contains provisions designed to safeguard your information. These provisions aim to balance the protection of individual privacy against public interests, such as the efficient functioning of government.

We are required to comply with the Australian Privacy Principles contained in the Privacy Act. The principles tell us how we must deal with your personal information. They set out our obligations to act in an open and transparent way when:

• collecting personal information, including how we will use your information and for what purpose
• storing and securing personal information
• giving you access to, and allowing you to correct, personal information
• checking the accuracy of personal information before using it, and only using it for administering the laws
• using and disclosing personal information.

To find out how we deal with collection, storage, access to, use and disclosure of personal information, see the ATO privacy policy.

If you think our actions have breached your privacy or the confidentiality of your tax information, your first step is to try to resolve the matter with our case officer.

If the matter cannot be resolved with our case officer, you can escalate the matter to our senior officer nominated at the start of your case.

If you are still not satisfied, you can make a complaint to us – we try to resolve complaints quickly and fairly. If you are not satisfied with how we have handled your complaint, the Office of the Australian Information CommissionerExternal Link may be able to help you.

Freedom of information

The Freedom of Information Act 1982 gives you the right to access information in documents we hold about you. You have the right to ask us to change personal information we hold about you if you think the information is incomplete, incorrect, out of date or misleading.

If you want to access any of our documents, you should contact us first. We can provide copies of some of the more commonly requested documents without the need for you to make a freedom-of-information request.

We may refuse to give you access to documents if they are exempt – for example, when a request is made while you are under audit or enquiry, and disclosure could reasonably be expected to prejudice an investigation or the proper administration of the law.