The Australian Taxation Office (ATO) has released its annual Taxation statistics report. The report contains data extracted from tax returns and related schedules for individuals, companies, superannuation funds, partnerships, and trusts for the 2020–21 income year.

This report also includes information relating to the 2021–22 financial or fringe benefits tax year, including goods and services tax (GST), excise and fuel schemes and fringe benefits tax (FBT).

The data provides detailed and valuable insights into the Australian economy that can inform discussion by a wide range of governments, researchers and commentators.

The 2020–21 report is significant as it is the first data set that includes an entire income year impacted by COVID-19. For example, as a result of more individuals working from home due to the pandemic, the data shows an increase in other work-related expenses.

What’s new in the 2020–21 report

There are two new detailed tables included, relating to partnerships and trusts. The new tables show data from rental property schedules. The data is split by the state/territory of the property and the overall net rental position.

Points of interest in the 2020–21 report:

The total tax revenue administered by the ATO for 2020–21 was $475.3 billion. Of this

49.8% came from individual income tax ($236.7 billion)

22.6% came from companies ($107.3 billion)

15.0% came from GST ($71.2 billion)

6.2% came from super funds ($29.7 billion)

5.1% came from excise ($24.4 billion)

1.3% came from fringe benefits tax, petroleum resource rent tax, luxury car tax and wine equalisation tax ($6.1 billion).

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• The average superannuation account balance increased from $145,000 in 2019–20 to $170,000 in 2020–21 and the median account balance increased from $49,000 to just under $60,000.
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• Overall net rent for 2020–21 was a profit of $3.2 billion. This is the first time that net rent has been positive since the 1999–2000 income year.
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• The postcode with the highest average taxable income ($266,381) was 2028, which covers Double Bay in the eastern suburbs of Sydney.
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• Surgeons were again the highest paid occupation in 2020–21, with 4,157 individuals reporting an average taxable income of $457,000.
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• The biggest tax liabilities were from the mining industry (29.5% of company net tax), followed by financial and insurance services (24.7%).
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• Luxury car tax increased by almost 50% to $885 million in 2020–21.
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For the full breakdown of the 2020–21 statistics, visit ato.gov.au/taxstats.

ATO file footage is available for use in news bulletins from our media centre.