The Government on Mon 4.2.2013, announced it would alter the confidentiality of tax information rules for large and multinational businesses so they would be forced to publicly disclose Federal taxes they pay. The Assistant Treasurer said the move was to implement the Government’s intention “to improve the transparency of Australia’s business tax system”.
“Large multinational companies that use complex arrangements and contrived corporate structures to avoid paying their fair share of tax should not be able to hide behind a veil of secrecy,” the Assistant Treasurer said. He said protecting taxpayer confidentiality for individuals was essential, “but recent events in Australia and around the world call into question whether large and multinational businesses should have the same level of confidentiality about the taxes they have paid”.
Mr Bradbury said the Government would also explore ways to improve the sharing of tax information between the ATO and other key corporate regulators including the Foreign Investment Review Board, ASIC and APRA. He said he has therefore asked Treasury, in consultation with the Specialist Reference Group on Ways to Address Tax Minimisation of Multinational Enterprises he announced in December 2012, “to develop the details of how changes could be implemented”. In particular:
- how the policy could best be designed to cover large and multinational businesses, including whether a threshold test would be appropriate;
- which Federal taxes should be disclosed; and
- how the tax information should be made publicly available.
In announcing this work, Mr Bradbury said the Government “strongly reaffirm[ed] its support for the privacy of individuals’ taxpayer confidentiality. The Government will not publicly disclose the tax information of individuals or small businesses.”
Following the first meeting of the Specialist Reference Group later this month, Mr Bradbury said the Government will consider the advice from Treasury and views of the community to “assess what changes are appropriate, with a view to introducing any necessary legislative changes this year”.
Source: Assistant Treasurer’s press release No 005, 4 February 2013
[LTN 22, 4/2/13]