The ATO receives data from a range of sources, including banks, financial institutions and other government agencies. They validate this data and match it against their own information to identify where people and businesses may not be reporting all their income.
When the ATO identifies a discrepancy in the below examples, they also check if the amount has been placed at another label by mistake. If they contact a taxpayer about a discrepancy, they will provide details regarding the data that has been matched, so that the taxpayer can then check their records.
The ATO looks for omitted:
- interest income;
- employment income;
- government payments;
- capital gains tax from the disposal of shares and property;
- employment-related foreign source income;
- taxable government grants and payments;
- payments made to contractors in the building and construction industry; and
- distributions from partnerships, trusts and managed funds.
Reference:
ATO website, 3 May 2018 https://www.ato.gov.au/About-ATO/Access,-accountability-and-reporting/In-detail/How-we-use-data-matching/
