The ATO has issued a notice announcing that it will be acquiring details of real property transactions for the period 20 September 1985 to 30 June 2017 from various state revenue offices and tenancy boards. In relation to rental properties, the ATO is seeking details of rent paid and contact details of landlords. In relation to property transfers, the ATO is seeking details of the transfers, including details of the transferors and transferees and any state land tax and/or stamp duty concessions sought.
The information will be matched to the ATO’s data holdings. The ATO said an objective of the data matching program is to ensure taxpayers are correctly meeting their taxation obligations. The ATO expects that around 31 million records for each year will be obtained. Based on current data holdings, the ATO said records relating to approximately 11.3 million individuals are expected to be matched.
The data matching program goes all the way back to the start of the capital gains tax (CGT) regime in September 1985. Some commentators suggest this could be the ATO looking for CGT revenue on previously undeclared capital gains or incorrectly claimed CGT concessions. Note also that the ATO intends to carry on its data matching program from 2017. It will no longer announce details of its program as law changes will make it mandatory by then for revenue authorities and other entities to report real property transactions to the ATO.