There has been a bit of talk in the media this week about the Inland Revenue Department providing some taxpayer details to online platforms to allow targeting of advertising.
Many of us in the tax community have grown up with Inland Revenue Department regarding taxpayer secrecy and confidentiality of information as paramount.
Therefore, the thought of Inland Revenue Department providing some of that information to an online platform, when the taxpayer has not approved that and there is no guarantee the online platform will hold the information securely, is quite shocking. However, it does reflect the changing world we live in. Seldom do we now find a letter from the Inland Revenue Department in your mailbox and newspapers are getting smaller as advertisers look to different forums where their customers are interacting.
The tax system works because it's broadly fair, has integrity, and the information gathered is held confidentially. Inland Revenue therefore need to be very careful in this space as if they compromise some of these key principles the result could be a lack of confidence in the system which ultimately will lead to non-compliance.