The Australian Taxation Office (ATO) has issued a notice that it will acquire lifestyle assets data from insurance policies for the period 2020-21 to 2022-23.

The data matching program will focus on the following assets above the listed thresholds:

• marine vessels ($100,000)
• motor vehicles including caravans ($65,000)
• thoroughbred horses ($65,000)
• fine art ($100,000 per item)
• aircraft ($150,000).

The data items include:

• Client identification details (names, addresses, phone numbers, dates of birth, Australian business number, email address)
• Policy details (policy number, policy inception date, start date of current policy, end date of current policy, total value insured, purchase price of the property insured, registration or identification number of the property, insurance category, policy cost, description of the property insured, primary use type).

The data will be acquired and matched to improve the ATO’s compliance risk profiling of taxpayers and provide a holistic view of their assets and accumulated wealth. The lifestyle assets data-matching program is expected to identify and address the following risks:

• taxpayers accumulating or improving assets with insufficient income reported in their tax returns to show the financial means to pay for them
• income tax and CGT – taxpayers disposing of assets and not declaring the revenue and/or capital gains on those disposals
• GST – taxpayers may be purchasing assets for personal use through their business or related entities and claiming GST credits they are not entitled to
• FBT – taxpayers may be purchasing assets through their business entities with no apparent nexus with their business activities, but rather applying those assets to the personal enjoyment of an associate or employee giving rise to a fringe benefits tax liability
• SMSFs may be acquiring assets but applying them to the benefit of the fund’s trustee or beneficiaries.

The ATO estimates records of about 300,000 individuals will be obtained each financial year.

If you have any questions regarding the ATO’s lifestyle assets data, or wondering if your data will be obtained by the ATO for this research, please give us a call on 03 5443 0344 or email afs@afsbendigo.com.au