About tax assured
Tax assured is an indicator of our confidence in the tax and super systems. It is an estimate of the proportion of tax reported that we are confident is correct.
On 30 June 2025 we estimated 44.6% of total tax reported for the 2022–23 tax year can be assured as being correct. During 2024–25 we also assured an additional 3.0% for the 2021–22 tax year, bringing the total tax assured estimate for 2021–22 to 45.9% from 42.9%.
Tax assured is based on the concept of justified trust. We achieve justified trust and consider tax to be assured when we have evidence that reporting of indirect taxes, petroleum resource rent tax (PRRT) and income tax labels including taxable income, deductions and offsets are complete and accurate.
We collect data to assure tax from a range of direct and indirect sources. Where possible we collect data from third parties to match against information provided by taxpayers. We also engage directly with taxpayers to verify the information they report to us.
In practice, we can't gather third-party data or other information to compare against the tax returns of all taxpayers. As such, our tax assured estimates will always be lower than the total amount of tax that is reported.
Where we can't gather information to assure tax, we rely on our broader risk management approaches to provide us with confidence over other tax reported.
For more information on our confidence in the tax and super systems, see the latest annual report.
What tax assured tells us
We are confident that 44.6% of total tax reported for the 2022–23 tax year was reported correctly, as was 45.9% of the total tax reported for 2021–22.
The tax assured measure gives us confidence that the part of the tax system where we can get assurance is working well. It demonstrates strengths of the tax system and helps us monitor the system for potential threats.
Three-quarters of the tax that we assure is achieved through the collection and matching of third-party data against tax reported by individual taxpayers. We call these system controls.
One area where controls operate effectively is the pay as you go (PAYG) withholding system. It ensures taxpayers report the salary and wage income they earn. These controls provide evidence that 91% of all salary and wages were reported correctly, and confidence to assure $177 billion in income tax reported by individuals in the 2022–23 year as correct.
The remaining quarter of the income tax that we assure is done through direct taxpayer engagement with our larger clients. These include multinational and large corporations which have more complex tax affairs. We engage with our larger clients on a one-to-one basis to verify the amount of tax reported.
Our approach includes engagement with large and multinational businesses under our justified trust program, including the top 100, top 1,000 public and multinational groups and the top 500 private groups. These programs give us assurance that:
- $72 billion in income tax, indirect taxes and PRRT is correctly reported in the 2022–23 year
- 79% of excise amounts paid through our ongoing relationships with these taxpayers.
Methods
For income taxes, we seek assurance over the inputs that determine a taxpayer's liability, such as income, deductions and offsets.
For transaction taxes, we examine the reported throughput, including expected collections on sales and credits claimed on purchases.
We use 2 approaches to estimate the tax assured.
Data matching
To verify what is being reported by taxpayers is correct, we use data-matching with third-party sources. It's not necessary for us to engage directly with taxpayers to collect this information. The types of third-party data we use typically include:
- salary and wages information received from employers through the PAYG withholding system
- interest and dividend data from financial institutions and public companies
- pensions and allowances from government departments.
Direct engagement
Direct engagements with taxpayers where we verify primary sources of information such as financial statements, significant transactions, accounting to tax reconciliation, a review of tax governance and other analysis of the taxpayer's business. Most of these engagements are carried out with large and multinational businesses under our justified trust program.
In most cases, we can only assure tax reported by taxpayers once they have lodged and we have completed our data-matching and taxpayer engagements.
Limitations
There are some technical limitations involved in determining whether tax is assured.
Our tax assured estimates rely on interpretation, judgment and the strength of evidence that we can practically collect. While we will be more confident in some judgments than others, all estimates must meet the same essential criteria.
It's important to note that we can't collect information to compare with all tax returns. As such our estimates will always be lower than the real amount of tax that is correctly reported.
We also rely on our broader risk management approaches to provide a level of assurance over other tax reported. These approaches include:
- real-time analytics
- benchmarking
- sophisticated risk detection algorithms.
These are supported by administrative systems and tools including the taxable payments reporting system.
Tax assured is reported as a proportion of the tax base. For practical purposes the tax base is considered to be the total amount of tax reported. The tax base therefore doesn't include tax that is not reported. We estimate the amount of tax not reported through our tax gap program.