Beware of the dreaded inheritance tax and changes to it from April 2017! Approximately 1.3 million Britons now live in Australia and Brexit may only increase this number! Many think that moving to Australia means they no longer need to worry about UK tax, but often they are not fully… – Continue reading
Last November, the High Court’s decisions in Bywater Investments and Hua Wang Bank (Bywater) confirmed that a number of companies incorporated overseas were nevertheless Australian resident for tax because they “carried on business” and had their “central management and control” (CM&C) in Australia. The facts were extreme: the primary judge… – Continue reading
The government’s plan to issue a regulation in lieu of law (Perppu) concerning banking transparency, which includes allowing the tax authority to access taxpayers’ bank data, has sparked hot public debate. The proponents argue that such an initiative is critical, outlining the fact that the government has to comply with… – Continue reading
Uber is simply providing a taxi service and all its drivers must therefore register to pay goods and services tax, Australia’s Federal Court ruled. The Feb. 17 decision, which could yet be appealed to the full bench of the Federal Court, is “one step in the journey of the tax… – Continue reading
Business Council of Australia is urging tax cuts to remain competitive but transparency report show members’ effective rate is 24.3% The members of the Business Council of Australia, who are leading the push to cut Australia’s corporate tax rate from 30%, already pay an effective tax rate five percentage points… – Continue reading
The Australian Treasury is consulting on plans to increase administrative penalties for multinationals that fail to adhere to tax disclosure obligations. The new rules will apply to companies with global revenue of AUD1bn (USD749.7m) or more. From July 1, 2017, penalties relating to the lodgment of tax documents to the… – Continue reading
A showdown between the Australian Taxation Office and the nation’s largest companies including Chevron, Crown and BHP Billiton is looming as the tax man hits seven large companies with tax bills amounting to $2 billion. On Friday, the ATO released its corporate tax transparency report for 2014-15, which includes limited… – Continue reading
When introducing the draft legislation for the Diverted Profits or so-called “Google Tax”, Federal Treasurer Scott Morrison claimed it would: …reinforce Australia’s position as having amongst the toughest laws in the world to combat corporate tax avoidance. Australia is the second country to introduce this type of tax, after the… – Continue reading
Just a handful of dodgy tax structures being used by Australians cost tens of millions of dollars in lost revenue, according to the Australian Taxation Office. That could mean many millions more are missing, and is why the ATO is cracking down on people misusing trusts. The agency has long… – Continue reading
A series of companies associated with high-flying Sydney accountant who had scores of wealthy clients in Sydney’s eastern suburbs have been found to have avoided paying tax by the High Court, in a case that the tax office has described as “blatant tax evasion”. Four companies linked to accountant, Vanda… – Continue reading
Social media posts, private school records and immigration data are being used by the Australian Taxation Office as part of an increasingly sophisticated crackdown on tax cheats that yielded nearly $10 billion last year. ATO Commissioner Chris Jordan said the tax office had been investing in data collection analysis of… – Continue reading
The Australian Tax Office (ATO) has updated its guidance for those non-resident businesses that make supplies of goods, services, or digital products to consumers or GST-registered businesses in Australia, with a couple of changes due to occur next year and a change last month. Since October 1, 2016, certain transactions… – Continue reading
The Philippines is eyeing to seal tax treaties with all nine other Asean member-states, according to the Bureau of Internal Revenue (BIR). The country already has effective double taxation agreements (DTAs) with Indonesia, Malaysia, Singapore, Thailand and Vietnam, BIR Assistant Commissioner Marissa O. Cabreros noted in a presentation at last… – Continue reading
One of the most common ways multinationals take advantage of current laws to reduce their tax bill is through what’s known as transfer pricing. Former Treasurer Wayne Swan last week accused mining giant BHP of “aggressive transfer pricing,” denying the Australian government A$5.7 billion in tax revenue. For most companies,… – Continue reading
The Australian Taxation Office (ATO) has published two new taxpayer alerts that warn against international profit shifting by multinational companies. Taxpayer Alert 2016/11 concerns a new scheme that the ATO said attempts to avoid the Multinational Anti-Avoidance Law (MAAL). The MAAL applies to multinational groups that avoid a taxable presence… – Continue reading
Back in July, ABC’s The Business and Michael West featured an extraordinary raft of allegations from a 32-year veteran industry insider turned whistleblower, George Rozvany, who claimed that multinational tax avoidance was “out of control” and cost the Budget up to $50 billion dollars a year in lost revenue. Rozvany… – Continue reading
The tax authorities of Singapore and Australia have agreed to share financial account information to fight tax evasion. In a joint statement on Tuesday (Sept 6), the Inland Revenue Authority of Singapore (Iras) and the Australian Taxation Office (ATO) announced that they have entered into a Competent Authority Agreement on… – Continue reading
Twenty of the nation’s largest companies have voluntarily signed up to a comprehensive new code to disclose more details of their tax affairs in their latest ¬annual accounts following a series of scandals involving local and offshore firms. In the May budget, the federal government announced it was committed to… – Continue reading
Coles has urged its German rival Aldi to sign up to a new tax transparency code that will lead to more big businesses, particularly multinationals, releasing detailed information about the tax they pay. Aldi has yet to sign up to the Voluntary Tax Transparency Code, which targets more than 1500… – Continue reading
The Australian Taxation Office (ATO) has issued a series of taxpayer alerts that caution large companies against using contrived arrangements to avoid their tax obligations. The first alert concerns arrangements where Australian consolidated groups use offshore permanent establishments that have entered into intra-group transactions. Deputy Commissioner Jeremy Hirschhorn explained: “Through… – Continue reading
Multinationals suspected of routing Australian profits via Singapore will be outed to tax authorities, with the low-tax nation this week signing up to the global plan to fight tax evasion. Companies including big miners BHP Billiton and Rio Tinto as well as technology giants Apple and Google, have admitted using… – Continue reading
Asia Pacific The January – March edition of tax highlights for the Asia Pacific region highlights industry developments from Australia, China, Hong Kong, India, Indonesia, Korea, Malaysia and Singapore including: Australia’s new tax system for Managed Investment Trusts The final stage of China’s B2V reform to be rolled out from… – Continue reading
For a month starting May 3, The Treasury of the Australian government will be accepting submissions from interested parties to comment on a newly-released discussion paper entitled ‘GST treatment of digital currency’ as part of the 2016-17 Budget. The Treasury says the government has realized that consumers are ‘double taxed’… – Continue reading
Australia announced a further crackdown on multinational tax avoidance in its annual budget on Tuesday, including the planned introduction of a UK-style diverted profits tax (DPT), that it expects to raise A$3.9 billion over the next four years. The government is creating a new Tax Avoidance Taskforce of 1,000 specialist… – Continue reading
The leaders of Australia’s federal, state, and territory governments have failed to reach an agreement on a proposal to enable the states to levy income tax. The Council of Australian Governments (COAG) met on April 1. Ahead of the meeting, Federal Prime Minister Malcolm Turnbull had proposed that the federal… – Continue reading
It’s easy to stoke outrage at multinationals’ low taxes but harder to do something about it. According to the Organisation for Economic Co-operation and Development (OECD) – the so-called rich-countries club – tax avoidance by multinational companies is worth US$100-240 billion a year. That’s 4-10% of total global corporate income… – Continue reading
The Commissioner of Taxation, Chris Jordan has assured the public it can have confidence in the compliance approach the Australian Taxation Office (ATO) is taking to its wealthiest taxpayers. Following the release of tax details relating to about 300 private companies with incomes of $200 million or more, Mr Jordan… – Continue reading
People using trusts to shelter income and thereby avoid tax could be hit with higher bills under a review by the Australian Taxation Office. The agency has told Fairfax Media it is conducting a pilot program to determine whether trusts are complying with tough anti-avoidance rules when they distribute income… – Continue reading
