ATO data matching causing concerns for taxpayers and tax agents

Three main types of data matching utilised by the Tax Office have been highlighted by the Institute as causing systematic issues and concerns for taxpayers and tax agents.

There have been a number of issues with data matching for capital gains tax (CGT) purposes, including:

• Institute members have been receiving letters from the Tax Office that contain factual inaccuracies that have been used to calculate CGT owed;
• The letters do not seem to take into account information which was previously given or which should have first been sought prior to calculating the CGT; and
• The Institute questions whether the Tax Office approach causes unnecessary disruptive work for tax agents 

The Institute is further concerned with the Tax Office' use of data matching of employer issued employee share scheme (ESS) statements with individual income tax returns. ESS statements contain full disclosure of ESS transactions, even those that are not assessable in Australia.

This submission also reiterated a prior submission to the IGOT regarding data matching in the context of excess contributions tax (ECT), where The Tax Office has, on several occasions, been issuing incorrect ECT assessments as a result of administration issues. Click here for a copy of the prior submission.

Click here to access a copy of the Institutes' submission to the IGOT.