The ATO welcomes the announcement from SGSP (Australia) Assets Pty Ltd (SGSPAA) (trading as Jemena) to the Singapore Exchange. The settlement shows the ATO’s continued commitment to maintaining the integrity of the tax system by working with multinationals to ensure they are complying with their tax obligations.
The settlement resolves the dispute in relation to SGSPAA’s $800 million convertible instruments entered in 2015. Importantly, it was agreed that the convertible instruments will be converted into fully paid ordinary shares, eliminating future interest payments and deductions. This is in addition to the payment of $50.8 million for past years.
Deputy Commissioner Rebecca Saint said this settlement highlights the relentless focus of the Tax Avoidance Taskforce to ensure profits of multinationals are appropriately taxed in Australia.
‘The Tax Avoidance Taskforce continues to have a sharp focus on related party debt arrangements. We estimate that the Taskforce has removed around $45 billion of past and future interest deductions from the tax system. This results in billions of dollars of additional tax being collected in Australia.’
‘From a tax perspective, we’re putting integrity of the system first and ensuring businesses are on a level playing field.’
‘ATO intervention with large business and multinationals has prompted taxpayers to commit to long-term behavioural changes including restructuring and resolving longstanding disputes. It has resulted in taxpayers shifting their tax position and increasing their revenues being taxable in Australia,’ Ms Saint said.
Since the Tax Avoidance Taskforce commenced in 2016, it has helped secure more than $29.5 billion in additional tax revenue from multinational enterprises, large public and private businesses.
Notes to journalists
- Details of the settlement are covered by confidentiality provisions and the tax secrecy requirements of the taxation law. The Independent Assurance of Settlements (IAS) program also reviews and advises on our largest and most significant settlements to ensure fair and reasonable outcomes. All significant settlements are reviewed by former Federal Court judges to ensure a fair and reasonable outcome for the Australian community.
- In addition to the annual statistics published in the Annual Report, the ATO has also published statistics and key findings for settlements entered with public and multinational businesses for the 2022-23 financial year. The findings show the significant contribution settlements have for the tax system by locking in and collecting tax revenues for both past and future years.
- ATO settlement practices are subject to significant external scrutiny, with the Australian National Audit Office (ANAO) finding that our practices are effective. The ANAO also indicated we have more transparency over large market settlements than any other jurisdiction.
- The efforts of the Tax Avoidance Taskforce have seen several significant taxpayers publicly state that they have settled their affairs with the ATO, promoting from taxpayers unprecedented transparency. This includes the likes of Rio Tinto, Google, BHP, Apple, ResMed, Microsoft and Ampol. The ATO also publicly releases the Corporate Tax Transparency series of reports.
- The ATO is now seeing the impact of our Taskforce programs on the tax gap, specifically the gross gap, which is the true measure of voluntary performance of large business. Gross tax performance is a measure of how well large business get it right when they lodge, not after our intervention. This has improved since the inception of the Tax Avoidance Taskforce.
- The ATO has also committed to the exchange of our decisions on international taxation matters with foreign tax authorities to support international tax transparency.
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