ARTICLE · 01 APRIL 2010

Sharing Your Confidential Financial Information with ATO

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Under current law, there are restrictions on how information gathered about you by the Australian Tax Office (ATO) may be used. The Tax Laws Amendment (Confidentiality of Taxpayer Information) Bill 2009 currently before parliament weakens the protection offered by these strict confidentiality provisions.

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Bruce Prescott, Partner

Background

Under current law, there are restrictions on how information gathered about you by the Australian Tax Office (ATO) may be used. The Tax Laws Amendment (Confidentiality of Taxpayer Information) Bill 2009 currently before parliament weakens the protection offered by these strict confidentiality provisions.

If the Bill becomes law, the ATO will be able to share information about taxpayers with government agencies. Currently the ATO can only provide ASIC, for example, with information about a 'serious offence'. Under the Bill, this limitation will be weakened to include a wider range of less serious offences.

For the first time, the ATO may be able to provide information about you or your business to Fair Work Australia to target compliance with the Fair Work Act. If this Bill is passed, the ATO's powers to collect information may become a 'back door' for other government agencies to collect information about you or your business.

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