The Australian Taxation Office (ATO) welcomes the report released today by the Inspector-General of Taxation / Taxation Ombudsman (IGTO), Tax Identity Fraud: An Own Initiative Investigation Interim Report.
The ATO continues to support the IGTO with its ongoing investigation and agrees in principle with the majority of recommendations put forward by the IGTO.
Fraud is everyone's concern – the threat of identity fraud continues to increase in pace and scale as criminals become more sophisticated in their attempts. Global threats, organised crime, and increased data breaches in the community mean the risk is only growing.
Those attempting to commit fraud against the ATO are not only targeting Australia's capacity to fund health, education and infrastructure, but everyday Australians who are impacted by the theft of personal information.
The ATO is highly focused on security and fraud prevention. We recently introduced stronger security controls for people using myGovID. The safety of taxpayers' information and the protection of Australia's revenue is of the utmost importance to us.
Our systems and controls continue to strengthen against those who deliberately attempt to commit fraud, while balancing the need to make our systems easy to access for the majority of taxpayers.
Taxpayers play a big part in protecting their personal information when they interact online. The use of Personally Identifiable Information (PII) in a broad range of daily activities exposes individuals to their data being stolen and used to perpetrate ongoing crimes, including fraud against the tax system. PII data can be stolen through various mechanisms ranging from scams targeting the individual through to sophisticated criminals hacking entities and stealing data. Taxpayers and businesses are reminded to stay vigilant with the sharing of their information, and the security of their systems.
When the ATO has intelligence that a taxpayer's identity may be compromised, we activate stringent security measures to protect the taxpayer, and work with them to remediate the account.
The ATO is better equipped than ever to take strong action against individuals suspected of facilitating or perpetrating identity crime, including through law enforcement partners in the Serious Financial Crimes Taskforce.
The ATO will continue to work closely with other regulators, the banks, and taxpayers to further strengthen our systems to prevent and disrupt fraud. The IGTO's recommendations broadly align with work already underway to bolster our defences against fraudsters.
If a taxpayer knows or suspects that someone has stolen their tax file number or is using their tax-related information illegally, they should phone the ATO's dedicated hotline on 1800 467 033 as soon as possible.
