More than a third of all large public and foreign companies earning over $100 million annually and operating in Australia paid no tax last year, including a few travel companies.
A Tax Transparency report released by the Australian Tax Office (ATO) today found that 579 of the 1,539 corporate businesses reviewed didn’t fork over any cash in 2014 either because they had offsets against profits that reduced their tax to zero or they made a loss.
Commissioner of Taxation, Chris Jordan, said the report was published to improve corporate transparency between big companies and the public.
“Community trust and confidence in the way these large companies operate matters.”
Chris Jordan, Commissioner of Taxation
“And, tax should matter to these companies. It is not something to be taken lightly.
“Collectively, these 1500 large corporates paid almost $40 billion in company tax in the 2014 fiscal year.”
He stressed that a zero balance – on companies such as Sydney Airport, Qantas, Virgin, Tigerair or Qatar – didn’t mean tax avoidance.
Others with unusual financial or taxation numbers were being closely investigated by the ATO and have been subject to review or audit over the past three years.
“Most large corporates, particularly domestic Australian companies, meet their tax obligations, notwithstanding that we do have some significant disputes with some of them.”
Chris Jordan, Commissioner of Taxation
“As for the role of foreign owned entities operating in Australia, investment from these companies should not be premised on no or very little tax being paid on significant profits generated in Australia.
“Some of these foreign owned companies are overly aggressive in the way they structure their operations. We will continue to challenge the more aggressive arrangements to show that we are resolute about ensuring companies are not unreasonably playing on the edge. If they do, they can expect to be challenged.”
Meanwhile, the list also revealed how much major companies are paying in tax annually, including Wotif.com which forked out $19.9 million; Flight Centre $91.8 million; and helloworld $1.9 million.
