Commonwealth Consolidated Acts

TAXATION ADMINISTRATION ACT 1953 - SECT 8XB

             (1)  Subject to subsection (3), a person shall not directly or indirectly:

                     (a)  make a record of any taxation information relating to another person; or

                     (b)  divulge or communicate to another person any taxation information relating to a third person; or

                     (c)  otherwise make use of any taxation information relating to another person;

being information disclosed to or obtained by the person in breach of a provision of a taxation law (including this provision).

Penalty:  100 penalty units or imprisonment for 2 years, or both.

          (1A)  Subsection (1) does not apply to the extent that the person's actions are required or permitted by a taxation law or reasonably necessary in order to comply with an obligation imposed by a taxation law.

Note:          A defendant bears an evidential burden in relation to the matters in subsection (1A), see subsection 13.3(3) of the Criminal Code .

             (2)  Without limiting subsection (1), a person shall be taken to have obtained taxation information in breach of a provision of a taxation law if:

                     (a)  the information relates to the affairs of another person;

                     (b)  the form or circumstances in which the information was obtained would have led a reasonable person to believe that:

                              (i)  in the case of information contained in a document--the document had come from an office of the Commissioner or a Deputy Commissioner; or

                             (ii)  in any other case--the information had come from the records of the Commissioner or from an officer; and

                     (c)  the information was obtained by the person in circumstances that gave the person no reasonable cause to believe that the communication of the information to the person was authorised by a taxation law or by a person acting in accordance with such a law.

             (3)  Subsection (1) does not apply to the divulging or communicating of information to an officer (within the meaning of a taxation secrecy provision) for a purpose connected with the administration of a taxation law.

Note:          A defendant bears an evidential burden in relation to the matters in subsection (3), see subsection 13.3(3) of the Criminal Code .

             (4)  Except where it is necessary to do so for the purpose of carrying into effect the provisions of a taxation law, a person shall not be required:

                     (a)  to produce in court any document containing information in relation to which subsection (1) applies; or

                     (b)  to divulge or communicate to a court a matter or thing with respect to information in relation to which subsection (1) applies.

             (5)  This section does not apply to a person in respect of information or a document if the person is an officer within the meaning of a taxation secrecy provision and that provision refers to the information or document.

             (6)  In this section:

"taxation information" means information with respect to a person's affairs, being information that is, or at any time has been, in the possession of the Commissioner.

"taxation secrecy provision" means a provision of a taxation law that purports to prohibit the communication, divulging or publication of information or the production of, or the publication of the contents of, a document.