README.md

---
tags:
- law
- tax
- australia
- rag
- nlp
- legal
- finance
- ato
- ATOLaw
- taxation
- rulings
- advice
language:
- en
license: cc-by-3.0
pretty_name: ATO Tax Legal Rulings — Structured AI Dataset
size_categories:
- 10K<n<100K
---
# Australian Taxation Office Legal Database — Machine-Readable

**60,000+ ATO rulings, determinations, and private advice. Structured CSV. RAG-ready on day one.**

The ATO Legal Database spans 15 years of Australian tax law — private advice, interpretative decisions, public rulings, and compliance guidelines. It's all public. It's all messy HTML. Getting it into a format an LLM can actually use takes weeks of data engineering.

This dataset skips that. Every document is one CSV row. Every logical section is its own column. Source URLs included.

Files are updated automatically on weekdays when new ATO documents are detected.

> If this dataset saves you time, consider supporting the project:
>
> **[☕ Buy Me a Coffee](https://buymeacoffee.com/simplelex)**
---

## Contents

- [Dataset Splits](#dataset-splits)
- [Quick Start](#quick-start)
- [Schema](#schema)
  - [Edited Private Advice](#1-edited-private-advice-edited_private_advice)
  - [ATO Interpretative Decisions](#2-ato-interpretative-decisions-ato_interpretative_decisions)
  - [Public Rulings & Determinations](#3-public-rulings--determinations-public_rulings)
  - [Practical Compliance Guidelines](#4-practical-compliance-guidelines-practical_compliance_guidelines)
- [Use Cases](#use-cases)
- [Support the Project](#support-the-project)
- [Source & Licensing](#source--licensing)
- [Citation](#citation)
- [Terms of Service](#terms-of-service)

---

## Dataset Splits

| Split | Document Type | Est. Documents | Coverage |
|---|---|---|---|
| `edited_private_advice` | Edited Private Advice (EPA) — all years in one file | ~50,000 | 2011–present |
| `ato_interpretative_decisions` | ATO Interpretative Decisions (ATO ID) | ~10,000 | All years |
| `public_rulings` | Public Rulings & Determinations | ~2,000 | All years |
| `practical_compliance_guidelines` | Practical Compliance Guidelines (PCG) | ~200 | All years |

---

## Quick Start

```python
import pandas as pd
# Load one split
df = pd.read_csv("edited_private_advice_all.csv")
# Filter to active (non-archived) documents
active = df[df["Is_Archived"] == False]
print(active[["Authorisation_Number", "Subject", "Date_of_Advice"]].head())
```

Multi-value fields (legislative references, ruling periods, related documents) use ` | ` as the internal delimiter:

```python
# Explode pipe-delimited legislative references into one row per provision
provisions = (
    active["Relevant_Legislative_Provisions"]
    .str.split(" | ")
    .explode()
    .str.strip()
    .value_counts()
)
print(provisions.head(10))
```

---

## Schema

### Encoding conventions

| Convention | Detail |
|---|---|
| **Multi-value delimiter** | ` \| ` (space-pipe-space) within a single cell |
| **Empty values** | Empty string `""` — never `NULL` or `N/A` |
| **Booleans** | `True` / `False` |
| **Dates** | Verbatim as published by the ATO — no normalisation |

---

### 1. Edited Private Advice (`edited_private_advice`)

Private rulings issued to individual taxpayers, anonymised and edited for publication.

| Column | Type | Nullable | Description |
|---|---|---|---|
| `Authorisation_Number` | string | No | Primary key. ATO-assigned identifier, e.g. `1-2ABCDEF`. |
| `Date_of_Advice` | string | Yes | Date the private advice was issued, e.g. `1 July 2024`. Blank for older documents. |
| `Subject` | string | Yes | Single-sentence topic description, e.g. `Capital gains tax — main residence exemption`. |
| `Ruling` | string | Yes | All Q&A pairs concatenated: `Q1: [text] \| A1: [text] \| Q2: [text] \| A2: [text]`. |
| `Ruling_Period` | string | Yes | Income years the ruling applies to: `Year ending 30 June 20XX \| Year ending 30 June 20XX`. |
| `Date_Scheme_Commenced` | string | Yes | Date the relevant arrangement commenced. Blank when not stated. |
| `Relevant_Facts_and_Circumstances` | string | Yes | Full facts section, collapsed to single-space prose. |
| `Relevant_Legislative_Provisions` | string | Yes | Act/section references, e.g. `ITAA 1997 s104-10 \| ITAA 1997 s116-20`. |
| `Reasons_for_Decision` | string | Yes | Summary plus all sub-headings: `Summary: [text] \| Detailed Reasoning - [Sub-heading]: [text]`. |
| `Is_Archived` | boolean | No | `True` if the document carries an archival disclaimer. |
| `Source_URL` | string | No | Full URL, e.g. `https://www.ato.gov.au/law/view/document?docid=AEA/1-2ABCDEF`. |

---

### 2. ATO Interpretative Decisions (`ato_interpretative_decisions`)

Edited summaries of Tax Office internal decisions, released under FOI obligations.

| Column | Type | Nullable | Description |
|---|---|---|---|
| `ATO_ID_Number` | string | No | Primary key, e.g. `ATO ID 2010/101`. |
| `Status` | string | Yes | FOI/editorial status note as published. |
| `Title` | string | Yes | Short title of the decision. |
| `Issue` | string | Yes | The question put to the ATO. |
| `Decision` | string | Yes | The ATO's answer. |
| `Facts` | string | Yes | Relevant facts and circumstances. |
| `Reasons_for_Decision` | string | Yes | Reasoning supporting the decision. |
| `Date_of_Decision` | string | Yes | Date the decision was made, e.g. `2010/06/15`. |
| `Year_of_Income` | string | Yes | Income year to which the decision relates. |
| `Legislative_References` | string | Yes | Pipe-separated act/section references. |
| `Related_Public_Rulings_and_Determinations` | string | Yes | Related TR/TD/IT references, pipe-separated. |
| `Related_ATO_Interpretative_Decisions` | string | Yes | Related ATO ID numbers, pipe-separated. |
| `Subject_References` | string | Yes | ATO subject taxonomy tags, pipe-separated. |
| `Business_Line` | string | Yes | ATO business line that issued the decision. |
| `Is_Archived` | boolean | No | `True` if the document is archived/superseded. |
| `Source_URL` | string | No | Full URL, e.g. `https://www.ato.gov.au/law/view/document?docid=AID/2010/101`. |

---

### 3. Public Rulings & Determinations (`public_rulings`)

Binding public rulings (TR, TD, IT, CR, PR) and legislative instruments issued by the Commissioner.

| Column | Type | Nullable | Description |
|---|---|---|---|
| `Document_Reference` | string | No | Primary key, e.g. `TR 2024/1`. |
| `Document_Type` | string | No | Full type name, e.g. `Ruling`, `Determination`. |
| `Document_Type_Code` | string | No | Short code: `TR`, `TD`, `IT`, `CR`, `PR`, etc. |
| `Title` | string | Yes | Full document title. |
| `Status` | string | Yes | `Final`, `Draft`, `Withdrawn`. |
| `Date_of_Issue` | string | Yes | Publication date, e.g. `1 July 2024`. |
| `Date_of_Effect` | string | Yes | Date from which the ruling applies. |
| `Date_of_Withdrawal` | string | Yes | Withdrawal date, if applicable. |
| `What_This_Ruling_Is_About` | string | Yes | Scope statement from the document. |
| `Class_of_Entities_or_Scheme` | string | Yes | Who or what the ruling applies to. |
| `Ruling` | string | Yes | The operative ruling paragraphs. |
| `Examples` | string | Yes | Worked examples from the ruling. |
| `Appendix_Explanation` | string | Yes | Explanatory appendix text. |
| `Other_Appendices` | string | Yes | Any additional appendices. |
| `Previous_Rulings` | string | Yes | Documents this ruling replaces, pipe-separated. |
| `Related_Rulings` | string | Yes | Related ATO publications, pipe-separated. |
| `Legislative_References` | string | Yes | Act/section references, pipe-separated. |
| `Case_References` | string | Yes | Court/tribunal cases cited, pipe-separated. |
| `Subject_References` | string | Yes | ATO subject taxonomy tags, pipe-separated. |
| `ATO_References` | string | Yes | Internal ATO reference numbers. |
| `Is_Withdrawn` | boolean | No | `True` if the ruling has been withdrawn. |
| `Source_URL` | string | No | Full URL, e.g. `https://www.ato.gov.au/law/view/document?docid=TR/TR_2024/1`. |

---

### 4. Practical Compliance Guidelines (`practical_compliance_guidelines`)

Guidelines explaining how the ATO will administer specific areas of tax law, including safe harbours.

| Column | Type | Nullable | Description |
|---|---|---|---|
| `PCG_Number` | string | No | Primary key, e.g. `PCG 2020/2`. |
| `Document_Type` | string | No | `Final PCG` or `Draft PCG`. |
| `Title` | string | Yes | Full document title. |
| `Status` | string | Yes | `Current`, `Withdrawn`, `Draft`. |
| `Date_of_Issue` | string | Yes | Publication date. |
| `Date_of_Effect` | string | Yes | Date from which the guideline applies. |
| `Date_of_Withdrawal` | string | Yes | Withdrawal date, if applicable. |
| `Replaces` | string | Yes | Predecessor document(s), e.g. `PS LA 2011/18`. |
| `Related_Rulings_and_Determinations` | string | Yes | Related ATO publications, pipe-separated. |
| `Legislative_References` | string | Yes | Act/section references, pipe-separated. |
| `Summary` | string | Yes | One-paragraph executive summary. |
| `Purpose_and_Scope` | string | Yes | Who the guideline applies to and why. |
| `Background` | string | Yes | Context and policy history. |
| `Compliance_Approach` | string | Yes | The ATO's stated enforcement stance, including safe harbour thresholds. |
| `Examples` | string | Yes | Worked examples from the document. |
| `Appendices` | string | Yes | Appendix content. |
| `Other_Sections` | string | Yes | Any additional named sections. |
| `Compendium_Reference` | string | Yes | Reference to associated ruling compendium, if any. |
| `Is_Archived` | boolean | No | `True` if the document is archived. |
| `Is_Draft` | boolean | No | `True` if the document is a draft. |
| `Source_URL` | string | No | Full URL, e.g. `https://www.ato.gov.au/law/view/document?docid=PCG/PCG_2020/2`. |

---

## Use Cases

- **RAG pipelines** — each row is a self-contained retrieval unit; chunk on `Ruling`, `Reasons_for_Decision`, or `Compliance_Approach`
- **Legal NLP** — classification, summarisation, and named-entity recognition on Australian tax law
- **Legislative graph construction** — explode `Legislative_References` to build provision co-citation networks
- **Compliance tooling** — filter on `Document_Type_Code` + `Is_Withdrawn == False` to surface current binding obligations

---

## Support the Project

This dataset is free. If it saves you time on data engineering, a coffee is appreciated:

**[☕ Buy Me a Coffee](https://buymeacoffee.com/simplelex)**

---

## Source & Licensing

Data sourced from the [ATO Legal Database](https://www.ato.gov.au/single-page-applications/legaldatabase#Law) (© Commonwealth of Australia). ATO public legal documents are made available under the [Creative Commons Attribution 3.0](https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/3.0/) licence. This structured dataset is published by [SimpleLex](https://huggingface.co/simplelex) under the same terms.

---

## Citation

```bibtex
@dataset{simplelex_ato_rulings_2026,
  author    = {SimpleLex},
  title     = {ATO Tax Legal Rulings — Structured AI Dataset},
  year      = {2026},
  publisher = {Hugging Face},
  url       = {https://huggingface.co/datasets/simplelex/Aussie-Tax-Legal-Database}
}
```

---

## Terms of Service

**Last updated:** May 2026

### What this product is

The Aussie Tax Legal Database is a structured dataset of publicly available legal documents
published by the Australian Taxation Office (ATO) at ato.gov.au. Documents include Edited
Private Advice, Public Rulings, Determinations, ATO Interpretive Decisions, and Practical
Compliance Guidelines, compiled into machine-readable CSV format.

### Permitted use

You may use this dataset for any lawful purpose, including research, analysis, building
applications, and commercial projects. You do not need to ask permission. Attribution is
appreciated but not required for the compilation itself.

### Source material and copyright

The underlying ATO documents are published under the
[Creative Commons Attribution 3.0 Australia licence](https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/3.0/au/deed.en).
The ATO retains copyright in the original documents. This dataset is a structured compilation
and does not claim copyright in the original source material.

### Not legal or tax advice

Nothing in this dataset constitutes legal or tax advice. Documents are reproductions of publicly
available ATO materials provided for informational purposes only. Always consult a registered tax
agent or legal professional for advice about your specific situation.

### Accuracy and currency

We make no warranties about the completeness, accuracy, or currency of the data. ATO documents
may be updated, withdrawn, or replaced after the dataset was last scraped. Always verify against
the [ATO Legal Database](https://www.ato.gov.au/law/) for official or time-sensitive purposes.

### No liability

To the maximum extent permitted by Australian law, simplelex accepts no liability for any direct,
indirect, or consequential loss arising from use of or reliance on this dataset.

### Changes

We may update these terms at any time. Continued use of the dataset following an update
constitutes acceptance of the revised terms.