Our reference: D2024/009511
[redacted]
Deputy Commissioner of Taxation
Smarter Data
Australian Taxation Office
By email: [redacted]
Request for exemption: Guidelines on Data Matching in Australian Government Administration
Dear [redacted]
I refer to your letter dated 26 July 2024 regarding the Australian Taxation Office’s (ATO) Property Management Data-Matching Program for the 2018-19 to 2025-26 financial years (the data matching program).
In that letter, you have put forward that the ATO is seeking an exemption from the requirement under Guideline 3 of the Guidelines on Data Matching in Australian Government Administration(the Guidelines) to publish the names of source entities.
Consideration of issues under Guideline 10
Under Guideline 10, in seeking an exemption an agency must:
- advise the Commissioner in writing of the details of the proposed data matching program,
- specify how the proposed data matching program would be inconsistent with the Guidelines, and
- explain the public interest grounds that justify the inconsistency.
In my view, the ATO’s correspondence in relation to this exemption request satisfies these requirements. This includes explaining the public interest grounds for the exemption, including that publishing the names of source entities could:
- unfairly identify property management software companies cooperating with the ATO leading to a potential commercial disadvantage for those named,
- damage relationships between named businesses and their customers, and
- potentially impact the Government’s intent to promote a ‘level playing field’ for commercial enterprises.
I accept that there are reasonable public interest grounds for granting an exemption to the ATO to refrain from publishing the names of source entities.
Exemption approval
I approve the ATO’s exemption request in relation to the data collected for the Property Management data-matching program for the 2018-19 to 2025-26 financial year.
Publication on the OAIC website
Under Guidelines 10.6, it is the OAIC’s normal practice to make exemption requests publicly available. The ATO has not requested that this advice be kept confidential and, as such, the OAIC will make it publicly available on the OAIC website.
Yours sincerely
Carly Kind
Australian Privacy Commissioner
29 August 2024
