If you have told the ATO you live overseas, or claimed R&D costs for work your team did in Australia, your travel history could now be checked against official border records. The Tax Office has extended its passenger movements data-matching program to 2028–29, covering about 115,000 people a year. For expats, returning Australians and founders who travel often, the dates in their passport may matter as much as the numbers in their return.

What the ATO is collecting

The program uses Department of Home Affairs passenger movement data. According to the ATO's published protocol, it has been running since March 2020 and covers the 2019–20 to 2028–29 financial years.

The current public notice covers 2026–27 to 2028–29. The ATO estimates about 115,000 individuals a year will be included. The page was updated on 24 August 2026, and a notice was due in the Federal Register of Legislation in the week starting 24 August 2026.

The data items are specific. They are full name, date of birth, arrival and departure dates, passport ID and country code, and visa, residency, lawful status and citizenship status.

The ATO says the data is kept for five years after the final verified file is received.

Why travel dates matter for residency

The ATO lists several purposes for the program. They include verifying identity and residency, using the data as an indicator of residency for tax and super, detecting income that has not been reported, and finding people who have not registered or lodged when they should have.

Residency drives a lot of tax outcomes. Australian residents are generally taxed on Worldwide Income and get the $18,200 tax-free threshold, while foreign residents are taxed only on Australian-sourced income and have no tax-free threshold.

Australia's residency tests look at more than day counts. They consider where a person ordinarily resides, their domicile and permanent place of abode, and whether they were in Australia for more than half the year. But arrival and departure dates are hard evidence, and they can test a story that does not match.

Someone who says they moved overseas permanently, but whose records show long stays in Australia, may be asked to explain. So might someone who says they are a foreign resident while their family, home and work remain here.

The reverse also happens. A person who left Australia for a long overseas posting but kept lodging as a resident, claiming the tax-free threshold, may find the dates raise questions too.

The ATO also flags super. Residency status can affect how some super rules apply, which is why the data is described as an indicator for both tax and super purposes.

The R&D angle

Tax advisory firm Pattens said in October that the data could also matter for companies claiming the Research and Development tax incentive.

Eligible R&D activities generally must be carried out in Australia unless AusIndustry has issued an Overseas Finding. That means salary costs claimed for staff, including founders, while they were overseas could be challenged if those days are not covered.

For a start-up whose key engineer or chief executive splits time between Sydney and San Francisco, timesheets and R&D records need to line up with when that person was actually in the country.

Hypothetical example: A start-up claims $180,000 of a founder's salary as R&D expenditure for the year. Border records show the founder spent 73 days outside Australia, and there is no Overseas Finding. If the salary was earned evenly across the year, the share linked to days overseas is 73 ÷ 365, or 20 per cent. That is $36,000 of the claim the company may need to justify or remove.

That example is simplified. Actual outcomes depend on what work was done, where, and how the company records time.

What happens if your records don't match

The data-matching program is not designed to trigger automatic tax bills. The data will not lead to automated action, and taxpayers who are contacted get 28 days to respond.

The ATO also says one purpose is to reduce contact with people whose information is already correct. In other words, matching can help confirm a return as well as challenge it.

If you are contacted, the practical steps are straightforward:

  • check your own travel dates against your passport and booking records
  • gather evidence of where you lived, worked and kept your home
  • respond within the time given, or ask for more time early

For businesses, the focus is records. Salary allocations, project logs and any AusIndustry findings should tell a consistent story.

Who is most affected

The people most exposed are those whose tax position depends on where they were. That includes Australians who left to work overseas and stopped lodging, people who returned but kept claiming foreign-resident status, and temporary visa holders whose residency status changed during the year.

It also includes R&D claimants with globally mobile teams, especially where overseas work was not covered by an Overseas Finding.

If a past return is wrong, timing matters. Under the general penalty rules, a voluntary disclosure made before the ATO begins an examination can reduce any shortfall penalty.

None of this changes the law. Residency rules and R&D eligibility rules are the same as before. What has changed is that the ATO has a long-running, extended source of evidence it can test claims against.

Key dates and what to watch

The current notice runs to 2028–29, so the program will cover returns lodged for at least the next three income years.

The ATO keeps data for five years after the final verified file, which means records from this period could be relevant for some time.

Changes to the R&D tax incentive are part of the Tax Reform No. 4 bill now before Parliament, with proposed starts from 1 July 2028. Those changes are not yet law.

For now, consistency is the key factor. If the residency claim, R&D records and travel history tell the same story, border data is less likely to cause problems.