As announced by the Treasurer yesterday, the Australian Taxation Office (ATO) has secured an additional $6.4 billion in tax revenue from Australia’s largest business and multinational entities for the 2022-23 financial year.
ATO Commissioner Chris Jordan said this record high result is a product of the ATO’s vigorous scrutiny and continued compliance intervention into the large market.
‘This additional revenue comes directly from our compliance intervention. It is an outstanding result that reflects years of sustained effort from the Tax Avoidance Taskforce to drive increased tax compliance by large businesses.’
‘The Taskforce scrutinises the tax outcomes of the largest 1,100 businesses and multinational groups to verify that they are paying the right amount of tax, and has helped to collect, on average, an additional $2 billion each year from public and multinational businesses. Last financial year’s result is three times more than this.’
Around $4.4 billion of last year’s result is due to the ATO’s earlier interventions in the oil and gas sector now flowing through the system, positively impacting tax collections. This result largely reflects the ATO’s ability to capitalise on the success in the Chevron case, permanently removing more than $40 billion of past and future.
interest deductions for related party finance arrangements from the tax system. As a result, these large businesses are paying more tax and sooner.
‘Our intervention and strong commodity prices mean that some oil and gas companies are now among the biggest taxpayers in Australia. Some of the revenue is already flowing through the system, positively impacting collections now and into the future.’
‘We have been planting these seeds for many years and this work is now bearing fruit with significant outcomes for the Taskforce’s compliance and assurance programs.’
‘All of these results reflect the hard work the Tax Avoidance Taskforce has done to challenge tax avoidance arrangements. We will continue to hold public and multinational businesses to account to ensure they are paying the right amount of tax.’
‘We have confidence that most large businesses are doing the right thing and meeting their lawful tax obligations. The community can be assured the ATO will detect and pursue those organisations that try to game the system,’ said the Commissioner.
Since the Tax Avoidance Taskforce commenced in 2016, it has helped secure more than $27.7 billion in additional tax revenue from multinational enterprises, large public and private businesses up to 31 August 2023.
ENDS
Notes to journalists
Further information on the Tax Avoidance Taskforce is available at ato.gov.au/taxavoidancetaskforce The ATO will publish the 2022-21 Corporate Tax Transparency Report later this year.
ATO file footage is available for use in news bulletins from our media centre.
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