Mandatory disclosure of tax bills closer as Australia joins OECD push

Australia is one of 31 countries to sign an agreement in Paris to confidentially share tax information on multinational companies in a bid to stamp out tax avoidance.

The deal comes as Apple has taken advantage of accounting rules in its local business that could allow it to pay virtually no tax in Australia on its profits this year.

On Wednesday night, the Organisation for Economic Cooperation and Development announced 31 countries including Australia have signed the agreement, which has been described as a “game changer” in helping expose multinational tax avoiders.

It will give tax authorities a more detailed picture of multinationals’ tax affairs, including income and tax paid in every country they operate in, as well as detailed information about where and what kind of economic activity takes place.

The countries will start sharing data in 2017-2018, based on 2016 information.
The country-by-country reports, which are part of the OECD/G20 plan against tax avoidance known as Base Erosion and Profit Shifting (BEPS), are only for tax authorities to share, and will not be made public.

Governments worldwide, including the Australian government, have been under pressure to release the information publicly. The OECD’s head of tax, Pascal Saint-Amans, has said that that doing so may be misleading, and would have jeopardised agreement from countries.
But Tax Justice Network spokesman Mark Zirnsak said the the key parts of the reports should be made public. “The community needs to know that these companies are actually paying their taxes in the countries where they are really doing business and not on the basis of artificial legal structures,” he said.

In Europe banks were already required to provide company revenue, the number of employees, and level of profits and taxes paid on a country-by-country basis, he said. “There is no reason not to extend this to other large multinational corporations,” Mr Zirnsak said.

Treasurer Scott Morrison said the agreement signed on Wednesday will give authorities a closer look into transfer pricing affairs. It would thereby give the Australian Taxation Office further scope to ensure companies “pay their fair share of tax”.

“It is now harder than ever for companies to shift profit offshore by mispricing their dealings with foreign related entities,” he said.

Shadow assistant treasurer Andrew Leigh said signing the agreement to share multinational tax information with other countries was “a belated step in the right direction for the coalition”.
“But it strains credibility to think after years of undermining the ability of the tax office to act that they are any closer to seriously addressing multinational tax avoidance,” he said.
Greens leader Richard Di Natale said country-by-country reporting was a great first step, “but there is so much more to be done to ensure Australia isn’t being cheated out of the tax dollars that help pay for our schools, hospitals, and other services the community wants and deserves”.

OECD Secretary-General Angel Gurría said in a statement that the agreement will allow tax administrations to “obtain a complete understanding” of the way multinationals structure their operations. The confidentiality of such information will be safeguarded, he said.

Australia confirmed its commitment to country-by-country reporting at the G20 summit in 2014 when Tony Abbott and Joe Hockey were leading the government.

It was also a key part of the Turnbull government’s multinational tax avoidance law, which was announced in the federal budget and took hold in January.

The new laws could see companies with annual global revenue of $1 billion or more hit with double tax, plus interest, if they are found to be illegally shifting profits offshore.