The Albanese Government is committed to holding large corporates to account by enhancing transparency to ensure that they are paying the right amount of tax.
The Australian Taxation Office (ATO) has today published its annual Corporate Tax Transparency report, disclosing the tax performance of 2,713 corporates entities, revealing they paid $83.8 billion in income tax in 2021‑22.
Australians expect all taxpayers, from large multinationals to individuals, to pay the right amount of tax. The ATO’s report provides insights about the corporate tax system and the tax performance of multinationals and large public and private businesses. The report provides transparency about the tax paid by large companies and keeps them accountable to the community and stakeholders.
The Albanese Government boosted funding for the ATO’s Tax Avoidance Taskforce in the October 2022‑23 Budget by around $200 million a year over 4 years from 1 July 2022 and extended it by a further year from 1 July 2025.
This investment has bolstered ATO crack downs on tax dodging by multinational enterprises, large Australian public and private groups, and wealthy individuals operating in Australia.
The Government has also introduced tough new measures to tackle multinational tax avoidance and strengthen transparency rules for multinational companies.
The Multinational Tax Integrity Package will require:
- public companies are now required to disclose where their subsidiaries are based
- large multinationals will need to disclose certain information on a country‑by‑country basis and their tax approach,
- tenderers for large government contracts will need to disclose their country of tax domicile.
The Government has also introduced legislation to amend Australia’s thin capitalisation rules to limit the amount of interest expenses that entities can deduct for tax purposes.
Full details of the Corporate Tax Transparency report are available on the ATO website.
Quotes attributable to the Assistant Treasurer and Minister for Financial Services, Stephen Jones:
“Australians expect big companies to pay the right amount of tax, just like they do.
“The ATO’s report is important to hold big companies to account through transparency of their tax affairs.
“Australians can be confident that the Albanese Government is serious about multinationals paying their fair share and not dodging their tax obligations. Our multinational tax integrity package will address tax loopholes exploited by multinationals and improve tax transparency.”
Quotes attributable to the Assistant Minister for Competition, Charities and Treasury, Andrew Leigh:
“When multinationals pay less, Australians pay more.
“The Government sees tax transparency as a critical part of the social contract multinationals have with the communities in which they operate. The release of this data provides the community with a better understanding of how much tax multinationals pay relative to their activities.
“Sunlight is the best disinfectant. Today’s data release was enabled by laws passed by the Gillard Government. In the same spirit, the Albanese Government is working to improve tax transparency.
“Our Government will continue to close loopholes and open transparency, in the interests of all Australians.”