Australia warns multinationals over tax as Chevron drops appeal
PERTH (miningweekly.com) – US oil and gas major Chevron has withdrawn its High Court appeal over a A$340-million bill from the Australian Taxation Office (ATO).
The withdrawal means that the Full Federal Court decision of April is now final.
The company in May turned to the High Court after a Full Federal Court dismissed its appeal of the ATO bill, ruling that the US-based company had used an intra-company loan as a means to shift profits offshore, and thus avoided paying income taxes in Australia.
“While the Commissioner cannot brief me on any individual’s or entity’s tax affairs, the resolution of this matter is a significant win for the Australian community. The ATO’s initial estimates are that the Chevron decision will bring in more than A$10-billion dollars of additional revenue over the next ten years in relation to transfer pricing of related party financing alone,” Revenue and Financial Services Minister Kelly O’Dwyer said last week.
“Not only does this result put more revenue back to the Australian people, it also strengthens the ATO’s position in pursuing other arrangements where multinationals seek to dodge Australia’s transfer pricing rules.”
She said that the resolution of this matter demonstrated the government was taking action to ensure multinational companies paid their fair share of tax on the profits they earn in Australia.
“We have already provided an additional A$679-million in funding to the ATO through the Tax Avoidance Taskforce to strengthen the ATO’s capabilities and ensure these multinational companies operating in Australia are held to account.”
The taskforce is estimated to generate A$3.7-billion from 2016/17 to 2019/20.
“We are also taking action by further strengthening Australia’s tax laws. The Multinational Anti-Avoidance Legislation has brought A$6.5-billion per annum into Australia’s tax base through the restructuring of corporate groups. More recently the Diverted Profits Tax will also put more pressure on these multinational companies to justify their international tax arrangements,” O’Dwyer said.
