Listen

Chapters

  1. About Privacy Management Plan
  2. Types of personal and health information held by Revenue NSW
  3. Revenue NSW legislation and policy
  4. Information Protection Principles and Health Privacy Principles
  5. Exemptions from privacy legislation
  6. Notification of data breaches
  7. Privacy internal reviews and complaints
  8. Appendices

2. Types of personal and health information held by Revenue NSW

Revenue NSW manages a large volume of data that contains both personal information, sensitive information, and limited health information. Revenue NSW collects, uses and stores personal information to administer grants, resolve fines and collect revenue including state taxes to fund essential State services for the people of NSW in a fair, efficient, and timely manner. The information held by Revenue NSW is described generally below.

Information held by Revenue NSW is used to manage your obligations. This includes but is not limited to:

  • paying taxes, duties, levies, fines, fees or royalties
  • buying or selling property: grants, taxes, duties and housing affordability measures
  • applying for first home benefits
  • finding and claiming unclaimed money.

Customer records

Revenue NSW interacts with customers through three different channels, face to face (using Service NSW front counter services and Revenue NSW outreach programs), through contact centres (by phone) or online (website, live chat, Service NSW app, Revenue NSW apps or other digital facility).

The main types of customer personal information that we collect and hold are: Identity, demographic and contact data such as name, address, telephone numbers and email address, date of birth, gender, and signature.

Additional customer details, including financial details, are collected to assess duty and tax liability, eligibility for, or exemption, or concession from duties or for grants. Customer details are also collected as part of investigations and audit to ensure compliance with legislation administered by Revenue NSW

Service NSW transactions

Under the Service Act, Service NSW exercises customer service functions on behalf of Revenue NSW. The main service provided is the receipt of fines and taxes on behalf of Revenue NSW, via Service NSW service centres using their front counter services (face-to-face) and via Service NSW contact centres (phone). The process involves the collection of customer records, including proof of identity documents and transaction information which are added directly into Revenue NSW’s systems.

Third Party Data

Revenue NSW holds third party data under agreement with the responsible Agency. The agreements specify terms and conditions for use of the data. Generally, the information held is used for investigations, audit and compliance processes. Revenue NSW uses third party data brokers for verification of information and for compliance purposes.

Health Information

Customers may supply some health information when seeking an exemption or a review of some fines matters, first home benefits, or disaster relief grants. Revenue NSW actively seeks to minimise the amount of health information collected to protect customer privacy.

Revenue NSW Stakeholders

We may collect personal or health information from, or disclose personal or health information to, our stakeholders to do our work. These stakeholders include but are not limited to:

  • Persons conducting a business or undertaking,
  • NSW Ombudsman, NSW Civil and Administrative Tribunal, and other statutory or regulatory bodies,
  • Insurers,
  • Solicitors and other legal representatives,
  • Authorised representatives, and anyone with implied authority such as joint landowner/s,
  • Ministers and parliamentary agencies,
  • NSW Courts and Revenue NSW’s or the issuing authorities’ legal representatives,
  • The agency that issued the fine including NSW Police and Local Councils,
  • The agency that referred the debt to Revenue NSW for recovery, for example NSW Ambulance, TAFE NSW and iCare,
  • Service NSW,
  • Transport for NSW,
  • NSW Valuer General,
  • Australian Taxation Office,
  • Commonwealth Foreign Investment Review Board,
  • Law enforcement agencies,
  • NSW Police, if Revenue NSW reasonably suspects a case of fraud or other criminal activity or as permitted by law,
  • Other local, state and federal government agencies,
  • The person you nominate for a fine (disclosure of your name only in this instance),
  • When administering Revenue NSW legislation such as First Home Owner Grant (New Homes) Act 2000, Unclaimed Money Act 1995, Taxation Administration Act 1996, Fines Act 1996 etc,
  • Revenue NSW’s contracted printing and mail receiving providers,
  • Electronic Duties Returns providers including Electronic Lodgement Network Operations such as PEXA and Sympli; and Client Service Providers such as Dye & Durham, InfoTrack and Hazlett Information Services,
  • Public/private entities (including the Document Verification Service) in order to verify the information you provide or request additional information as permitted by law,
  • Other third-party service providers engaged by Revenue NSW to support the administration of fines, debt, taxes and grants,
  • As required by law including under the Data Sharing (Government Sector) Act 2015,
  • Academics and researchers,
  • To invite you to participate in future evaluations.

Business, Organisation and Trust Information

Information about businesses, organisations and trusts do not generally fit the definition of personal information under section 4(1) of the PPIP Act, and so is exempt from the provisions of the Act. Nevertheless, Revenue NSW takes its role as custodian of business information seriously and treats this information with the same level of care and protection as personal information about an individual.

In the event of a data breach, Revenue NSW will consider whether the information is already publicly available (e.g., through publicly accessible registers such as the Australian Securities and Investment Commission business register) and the sensitivity of any business information, and act accordingly and in line with the notification standards which are applied to individuals.

Examples of the types of information Revenue NSW may hold about a business or organisation:

  • Business names, trading names, ABNs, ACNs and ACNCs,
  • Organisation contact details,
  • Trust deeds, shareholder registers, and constitutions,
  • Financial statements and notices,
  • Employee/contractor information,
  • Land titles held by a company, organisation or trust,
  • Insurance details,
  • Royalties and resource extraction information,
  • Point of Consumption Tax monthly returns and gaming and wagering liabilities,
  • Exemptions for charities and not-for profit organisations,
  • Payments, including possible penalties and interest made to Revenue or outstanding balances.