The Coalition Government has ensured the taxation details of Australian-owned private companies will remain exempt from Labor’s public disclosure taxation rules, after the Senate passed the Tax and Superannuation Laws Amendment (Better Targeting the Income Tax Transparency Laws) Bill 2015 today.
Minister for Small Business and Assistant Treasurer, the Hon Kelly O'Dwyer MP said the current legislation would have required the Commissioner of Taxation to publish tax information of Australian owned private companies with income of $100 million or more.
"This would have posed a risk to their position in the market by making key economic information on these firms available to competitors and suppliers,” Minister O’Dwyer said.
"This information could have affected the privacy and personal security of the ultimate owners of around 800 Australian owned private companies.
"The Government has now made a sensible amendment to correct this position.
"The ATO has comprehensive powers to obtain all the information it requires to properly assess the tax liabilities of companies.
"The public disclosure of tax information law will continue to apply to multinational enterprises operating in Australia and Australian public companies
"Importantly, the Government has been clear that every company must pay the correct amount of tax and has acted to tighten the thin capitalisation laws and introduced new legislation to tackle tax avoidance by large multinationals groups,” Minister O’Dwyer said.