Large multinational companies operating in Australia are failing to suitably report their tax payments to the Australian people, a senior tax official said in an interview with The Guardian Australia on Thursday, also outlining that the activities of the "big four" accounting firms would come under greater scrutiny
MOSCOW (Pakistan Point News / Sputnik - 05th December, 2019) Large multinational companies operating in Australia are failing to suitably report their tax payments to the Australian people, a senior tax official said in an interview with The Guardian Australia on Thursday, also outlining that the activities of the "big four" accounting firms would come under greater scrutiny.
The Australian Taxation Office's second commissioner, Jeremy Hirschborn, made these comments to the newspaper in preparation for an annual release of tax transparency data before the year's end.
"The tax office is obliged to publish each year three numbers, which is of course a very limited perspective on a company's tax performance," Hirschborn said, as quoted by the newspaper.
The second commissioner outlined that a number of companies have failed to provide adequate data. This includes either focusing on how much they have invested in Australia or companies that only produce global accounts.
"You meet all the requirements technically but you've provided no insight into your Australian operations to the Australian community," Hirschborn added.
The Australian Taxation Office also has outlined plans to tackle what it believes to be the shielding of tax minimization schemes from exposure by the big four accounting firms - Deloitte, PwC, EY and KPMG.
In December 2015, Australia introduced the multinational anti-avoidance law (MAAL) as part of the government's attempts to combat tax avoidance by companies with an annual global income of AUS $1 billion (USD $683 million). The law doubled the maximum administrative penalties applicable to countries that enter into tax avoidance and profit sharing schemes.
