ATO data matching — motor vehicles

The ATO will acquire information for the 2016-17, 2017-18 and 2018-19 financial years on vehicles that have been transferred or newly registered where the purchase price or market value is equal to or greater than $10,000. Data will be acquired from the eight state and territory motor vehicle registry authorities.

It is estimated that records of 1.5 million individuals in each year will be electronically matched with ATO data holdings to identify non-compliance with obligations under tax and superannuation laws.

The Gazette notice for the data matching program (Gazette C2018G00277, 13 April 2018) notes the objectives include:
• obtaining intelligence about taxpayers buying and selling motor vehicles to identify risks and trends of non-compliance with tax and super obligations
• identifying and addressing taxpayers buying and selling vehicles who may not be meeting their obligations to register and lodge returns (including activity statements) and ensure the correct reporting of income and entitlement to deductions and input tax credits
• identifying taxpayers of interest for investigation, such as sellers, licenced dealers, fleet managers, leasing companies, or representatives of these taxpayers to determine if interposed proxy ownership is used to conceal the real accumulation of wealth
• identifying taxpayers who have not met obligations regarding GST, fringe benefits tax, luxury car tax, fuel schemes and income tax.