Good news. The Australian Taxation Office’s (ATO) has collected an extra $5.6 billion over the past two years through its multinational tax avoidance taskforce. From SBS News:
A clamp down on tax avoidance by big corporations and wealthy individuals has allowed the Australian Taxation Office to rake in an extra $5.6 billion over the past two years.
ATO deputy commissioner Mark Konza says the authority has been better able to scrutinise the tax paid by multinational companies since the Tax Avoidance Task Force was established in 2016.
The tax office is now running a fine-toothed comb over two-thirds of all corporate tax paid in a given year.
Last week it was revealed that the federal government is targeting large digital companies:
The federal government’s digital tax discussion paper, first announced in the May budget but kept under wraps for months, has opened the door to taxing digital assets, used by multinationals to make billions of dollars in profit…
The discussion paper, released after a three-month Freedom of Information request from Fairfax Media, shows Treasury has its eyes on an interim measure that will tax fees received from Australian customers and an EU-style 3 per cent tax on social media advertising.
But the steps are likely to be temporary as Australia pushes through complex international negotiations that will revolutionise the way digital business are taxed globally.
Hopefully this will lead to more revenue flowing into the federal budget.
