On 3 December 2015 the Senate amended the Tax Laws Amendment (Combating Multinational Tax Avoidance) Bill 2015 to require corporate tax entities that are significant global entities to give the Commissioner a general purpose financial statement if they do not lodge one with the Australian Securities and Investments Commission (ASIC).

The financial statement must be for the financial year that most closely corresponds to the income year, and it must be given to the Commissioner by the time the entity is required to lodge its income tax return. The amendment applies to income years commencing on or after 1 July 2016 (for most taxpayers this means lodgment of the statement will not be required until early 2018).

An entity is a significant global entity if it is:

  • a global parent entity with an annual global income of A$1 billion or more, or
  • a member of a group of entities consolidated for accounting purposes and one of the other group members is a global parent entity with an annual global income of A$1 billion or more.

We can also make a determination that an entity is a significant global entity if, in the period where it has not prepared global financial statements, we believe its annual global income is A$1 billion or more.

The Bill, as amended, received royal assent on 11 December 2015.

Consultation

We will be consulting with external stakeholders on the administrative arrangements for the provision of general purpose financial statements with a view to ensuring we can implement the measure in a way that minimises compliance costs for affected entities.

We anticipate commencing consultation by issuing a public discussion paper in March 2016. Stakeholders will be invited to provide feedback on the proposed arrangements, and to raise technical issues for our consideration. If required we will hold follow-up consultation with interested stakeholders.

Legislation and supporting material

Find out more

[ATO website: ‘Consulting on general purpose financial statements’] [ LTN 31, 17/2/16]