Australian Taxation Office to force banks to hand over landlord data in investment property crackdown

Banks will be compelled to hand over the data of 1.7 million landlords, including transaction details, as part of a tax office crackdown in search of $1.3bn in revenue lost from residential investment properties.

According to a sample audit conducted by the Australian Taxation Office in 2020-21, the federal government missed out on an estimated $9bn in tax revenue from individuals due to tax avoidance or errors.

It said the most common errors on rental tax deductions are: no or incorrect apportionment of the loan interest costs after refinancing for private purposes; claiming costs as a repair rather than a capital works deduction; and not apportioning expenses for private use of the property.

The ATO will collect: client identification details including names, addresses, phone numbers and dates of birth; account details including account numbers and balances; transaction details; and rental property details.

Landlords will be given 28 days to respond before any administrative action is taken using data gleaned from their financial institutions, giving them a chance to dispute the information collected by the ATO.

In February, the tax expenditure and insights statement revealed that 2.4 million people claimed $51.3bn in rental deductions in 2019-20, reducing their tax bills by about $18.6bn.