Privacy Commissioner backs TFN matching

The way has been substantially cleared for the superannuation industry to use tax file numbers (TFNs) for account consolidation purposes, with the Privacy Commissioner giving qualified support to such a move.

The Privacy Commissioner’s support has been revealed in a submission to the second phase of the Cooper Review into superannuation in which it said the Office of the Privacy Commissioner “would not be opposed to promoting efficiency in the superannuation system through limited and clearly articulated use of the TFN”.

However, it said such a proposal should be measured and accompanied by strict privacy safeguards to protect information.

At the core of the Privacy Commissioner’s support for the use of TFNs in data matching for superannuation account consolidation is the requirement that fund members be informed of what is occurring and given the opportunity to opt out.

The Privacy Commissioner’s submission noted that superannuation funds are already able to use TFNs for a limited range of purposes and stated that if the Cooper Review were to conclude that superannuation bodies should be able to match TFNs for specific additional purposes to promote efficiency, this should be done in a way that minimised the risk of such information being linked or matched excessively or without justification.

It added that the handling of TFNs in the superannuation context was already allowed under the TFN guidelines and that TFN data matching by super funds would amount to an extension of the TFN’s current use, rather than a completely new application.