The ATO has advised that it will collect information from the Department of Human Services (DHS) for the following benefits and entitlements:
- family tax benefits – part B;
- paid parental leave scheme;
- carers’ allowance; and
- Medicare entitlement statements.
This data will be compared with claims made in income tax returns for the invalid and invalid carer tax offset, and for exemptions from paying the Medicare levy and surcharge.
The program will enable the ATO to detect those who are NOT genuinely entitled to claim these offsets and exemptions. Due to a number of legislative changes in recent years, some people continue to claim these offsets and exemptions incorrectly.
The ATO says that it has been undertaking this data matching program for more than five years and intends to continue conducting it for a further three years.