The Australian Taxation Office (ATO) has executed a search warrant in Adelaide to retrieve and secure information it believes was obtained in contravention of its secrecy obligations.
In a statement, the ATO said it was committed to doing everything possible to secure taxpayer information, and would pursue cases where taxpayer confidentiality had been compromised.
“We comply with the Privacy Act 1988 and the secrecy provisions in the Taxation Administration Act 1953,” it said.
“These provisions protect information about all taxpayers, whether they are individuals or other kinds of taxpayers such as companies.
“We take these obligations extremely seriously, and have strong systems and processes in place to identify any misuse of taxpayer information.”
The ATO said it could use an extensive range of physical and technological controls to ensure that only staff who needed access to taxpayer information were able to access it and it also applied industry best-practice security methods.
“The Australian community can be assured that the ATO treats the confidentiality of their information with the utmost importance.
“In instances where we believe there has been a breach of taxpayer confidentiality and the law, we take every possible step to secure the information.
“This includes leveraging partnerships with law enforcement partners.”
The ATO said that as the Adelaide incident was now an ongoing investigation, it would not be making any further comment at this time.
The incident precedes an ABC television Four Corners program next Monday (9 April) investigating allegations that the ATO had abused its powers.
