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ATO Data Matching Programs Activated

The ATO has announced that it will be undertaking the following two data matching programs.

Ride Sourcing data matching program

The Ride Sourcing (E.g. Uber) data matching program has been developed to address the compliance risk of the registration, lodgement and reporting of businesses offering ride sourcing services as a driver. It is estimated that up to 74,000 individuals ('ride sourcing drivers') offer, or have offered, this service.

The ATO will request details of all payments made to ride sourcing providers from accounts held by a ride sourcing facilitator's financial institution for the 2016/17 and 2017/18 financial years, and match the data provided against their records.  This will identify ride sourcing drivers that may not be meeting their registration, reporting, lodgement and/or payment obligations. Where the ATO is unable to match a driver's details against ATO records, it will obtain further information from the financial institution where the driver's account is held.

Credit and debit card and online selling data matching program

The ATO is collecting new data from financial institutions and online selling sites as part of its credit and debit cards and online selling data-matching programs, specifically:
- The total credit and debit card payments received by businesses
- Information on online sellers who have sold at least $12,000 worth of goods or services.

The ATO will be matching this data with information it has from income tax returns, activity statements and other ATO records to identify businesses that may not be reporting all their income or meeting their registration, lodgement or payment obligations.