Tax, super and payroll rules change, and the published rates behind them are replaced from one period to the next. A question about a pay run or a BAS can have one correct answer for this quarter and a different one for the last. An answer with no date leaves you guessing which period it describes. An answer with a date gives you something to test.

Two dates sit behind every answer

One is the period the question is about: the pay date, the quarter, the year of income. The other is the version of the law and the rates the answer relied on. You can use the answer only when the two line up. A chat assistant can write a fluent reply that applies an old rule to a current question, and nothing in the wording will give it away. We covered why in how a model answers, and why it sounds sure.

A model's knowledge has an age

A general-purpose model learns from text collected up to a point, then stops learning. The OAIC's guidance on commercially available AI products lists this among the accuracy risks of generative AI, describing models developed on "training data obtained up to a certain point in time, which eventually becomes outdated". The same guidance points to "the tendency of generative AI tools to confidently produce outputs which appear credible, regardless of their accuracy".

Search and connected documents can give a model newer material to read. That helps only if the answer tells you which material it read and which date that material speaks to. Without that, a current answer and a stale one look the same on screen.

The law is published in dated versions

Commonwealth legislation on the Federal Register of Legislation is kept as a series of compilations, each an updated version of the Act or instrument. The Register's FAQ says that for a compilation, the effective date "refers to either the date from which the amended version of the law applies or, if it is a superseded version, the period during which that first version was in effect". It also warns that "The effective date is not the commencement date for an Act or instrument."

The Register's search help describes a point-in-time filter. Nominate a date and "the version that is returned in the result will be the one that was in force at the date you specified". So the publisher of the law expects you to ask which version applied on a given day. An answer about that law should tell you which version it used, and which kind of date it means.

Official guidance carries a date too

The ATO's page on how its advice and guidance protects you sets out when the ATO may depart from advice it treats as binding on itself. The first circumstance listed is where "there have been legislative changes since we issued our advice". For its general guidance, the page says "you are responsible for deciding whether it applies to your particular circumstances". The page also shows when it was last updated.

If the source has a date and can be overtaken by later changes, an answer built on that source should carry the date forward. Otherwise the reader loses the one detail that tells them whether the source still holds for their period.

What to look for on an answer

Before relying on an answer from any software, check for these:

  1. The period the answer applies to, stated in the answer rather than assumed from today.
  2. The version of the source it used: the compilation, ruling or published table, with its date.
  3. When that source was last checked against its publisher.
  4. A plain refusal when the source for your period is not held, in place of the nearest version.

If an answer shows none of these, ask again with the period spelled out, then open the publisher's page for that period and compare. For anything you will lodge or advise on, confirm it against the source and, where you need to, with your own adviser.

How we date answers at Toby

At Toby we keep rates and thresholds with their source and the date they were checked. Where a tool uses an attested schedule, the schedule records the Compliance Lead's attestation, as our FAQ sets out. The same page says that if you ask as at a date, Toby answers on the law in force then, naming the compilation, the version of the Act in force at the time, or the rate table it used. Our about page says that if Toby does not hold the law for a date or a state, it says so instead of guessing. Hold our answers to the same four checks you would apply to anyone else's.

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Related reading

For the other parts of an answer worth reading closely, see how to read a compliance answer.

Sources

  1. Office of the Australian Information Commissioner, Guidance on privacy and the use of commercially available AI products. Supports the points on training data becoming outdated and on confident outputs that appear credible.
  2. Federal Register of Legislation, Frequently Asked Questions. Supports the explanation of a compilation's effective date and that it differs from the commencement date.
  3. Federal Register of Legislation, How to use Browse, Search and Advanced Search. Supports the description of the point-in-time filter.
  4. Australian Taxation Office, How our advice and guidance protects you. Supports the points on legislative changes since advice was issued and on deciding whether general guidance applies.