The Addendum to LCG 2015/3 (Subdivision 815-E of the ITAA 1997: Country-by-Country reporting), released on 31 October 2017, among other things, deletes para 20. Paragraph 20 formerly stated:
“20. We intend to exempt by legislative instrument exempt entities listed in Division 50 of the ITAA 1997 that are significant global entities from CbC reporting. That is, we are not intending to apply the CbC reporting provisions to significant global entities that are exempt from income tax. CbC reporting will therefore not apply to the Commonwealth or State entities of the type covered by Division 50.”
An ATO spokesperson has confirmed to Thomson Reuters that no legislative instrument has been issued in relation to para 20 of LCG 2015/3. The spokesperson said:
“At the time of drafting LCG 2015/3 we intended to provide a class of entity exemption by legislative instrument covering entities listed in Division 50 of the ITAA 1997. However, it is now understood that there can be instances where Australia would be under an obligation to exchange a CbC report from such an entity with other tax jurisdictions under the OECD minimum standard. Our current practice is therefore to manage exemptions on a case-by-case basis.”
[LTN 221, 17/11/2017; ATO website: CbC Reporting; Wolters Kluwer – Unresolved Issues; Tax Month Nov 2017]