Privacy statement

Your privacy is important to us. Please read this privacy statement before using the Australian Business Register (ABR) website.

The Privacy Act 1988 regulates our use of your personal information. Our staff and contractors cannot disclose your information unless permitted under a law or in the course of employment. Other disclosures attract severe penalties.

For more information on the operation of the Privacy Act 1988, and privacy in general, visit the Privacy Commissioner’s website at www.privacy.gov.au

Overview

Administration of the ABR

Information we collect from you

Information available to the public

Information available to other government agencies

Information available to your business

Information we collect about you when you visit our websites

What we put on your computer when you use our websites

Privacy concerns

Administration of the ABR

The Registrar of the Australian Business Register is responsible for administering the ABR.

This responsibility includes:

registering new Australian business number (ABN) applications
registering and maintaining details about representatives of businesses that are registered under the A New Tax System (Australian Business Number) Act 1999 for the purpose of facilitating electronic dealings by businesses with government agencies
maintaining integrity of the register by ensuring records are current and accurate
providing the community with access to public data to assist them to verify core business identity and tax registration information, for example, whether an entity is registered for goods and services tax (GST)
providing eligible government agencies with access to details of registered ABN holders.

The Registrar is also the Commissioner of Taxation.

Information we collect from you

We will request information from you when you:

register for an Australian business number (ABN)
register for a non-individual tax file number (TFN)
apply for various tax roles, or
apply to register a representative on the ABR to obtain an AUSkey.

We are authorised to do so by one or more of the following Acts on the basis that we are using the information to help us administer those Acts:

A New Tax System (Australian Business Number) Act 1999
Income Tax Assessment Act 1936
A New Tax System (Goods and Services Tax) Act 1999
A New Tax System (Wine Equalisation Tax) Act 1999
A New Tax System (Luxury Car Tax) Act 1999
Fuel Tax Act 2006
Energy Grants Credits Scheme Act 2003
Product Grants and Benefits Administration Act 2000
Fringe Benefits Tax Assessment Act 1986
Taxation Administration Act 1953
Superannuation Industry (Superannuation) Act 1993.

We are authorised by the Taxation Administration Act 1953 and by the A New Tax System (Australian Business Number) Act 1999 to ask for a tax file number (TFN) for identification purposes.

While you do not have to provide a TFN, your online application may fail if you don’t.

If there are other implications in not quoting your TFN in one of our online forms, we will let you know at the time you are completing the form.

If we request information from you by email, we will record your email address and it may be disclosed to our partner agencies, or be used for service of notices in relation to your ABR registrations.

Information available to the public

Unless you apply to have your ABN suppressed, some of your ABN details are available for anyone to search, free of charge, through ABN Lookup (a search facility hosted by www.business.gov.au).

Information available to other government agencies

Government agencies may be given access to your ABN details (in accordance with the law). Each agency must properly justify the need for access to your details and enter into a partnership agreement with the Registrar of the Australian Business Register. ABR partners may use your ABN details for various purposes including registration, reporting, compliance, validation or updating of their databases.

Information relating to entities that have been refused an ABN is not made available to other government agencies.

Information available to your business

People with an Administrator AUSkey or an ATO primary digital certificate for your business can access and update details at www.abr.gov.au

AUSkey holders with administrator privileges can view and update the details of all other AUSkey holders registered to the same ABN at www.abr.gov.au/auskey including:

name
email
phone number (if applicable).

You can request a written, certified copy of your own ABN details free of charge

Information we collect about you when you visit our websites

We log visits to our websites for statistical purposes and to improve our websites. We collect the following information from your browser:

your server address
your operating system, for example, Windows, Macintosh
your top level domain name, for example, .com, .gov, .au, .uk
date and time of the visit to the site
pages accessed and the documents downloaded
type of transaction
previous site visited, and
type of browser used.

We do not share this information with any third party unless we are required to do so by law.

What we put on your computer when you use our websites

We put ‘session-based’ cookies on your computer for authentication purposes and to assist you in navigating to information when you use our websites. These are deleted from your computer at the end of each session.

If you prefer not to receive cookies, you can generally adjust your internet browser to refuse them or warn you when they are being used. However, please be aware that our websites may not function properly if cookies are not enabled.

If you install an AUSkey to your computer or a USB stick, we will also add a small amount of software in the same location. This software is designed to make your AUSkey appear automatically and function correctly when you need to use it. We cannot access other information on your computer or USB stick through the AUSkey software.

Similarly, if you install an ATO digital certificate to your computer we will also add a small amount of software to your computer.

Privacy concerns

If you have privacy concerns, phone us on 13 28 66 between 8.00am and 6.00pm, Monday to Friday. You can also obtain further information from the Privacy Commissioner’s website at www.privacy.gov.au or through direct contact.