INTERNATIONAL BUSINESS ENTERPRISES – TAXATION – AUSTRALIA

Glencore beats ATO in transfer pricing battle

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Original article by John Durie
The Australian – Page: 20 : 4-Sep-19

The Australian Taxation Office may appeal a Federal Court ruling in favour of mining giant Glencore over a transfer pricing dispute. The case centred on the price that Glencore’s offshore trading arm paid for copper from its Cobar mine in New South Wales. The ATO contended that the transaction should have been done at arm’s length. The ruling may have implications for other transfer pricing investigations being undertaken by the ATO.

CORPORATES
GLENCORE PLC, GLENCORE AUSTRALIA PTY LTD, AUSTRALIAN TAXATION OFFICE, FEDERAL COURT OF AUSTRALIA

Bring global giants to heel on tax

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Original article by Olivia Caisley
The Australian – Page: 5 : 1-Aug-19

Labor senator and former union official Tony Sheldon says the federal government should follow the example of other nations and ensure that multinational companies pay their "fair share" of tax in Australia. Sheldon also used his maiden speech in parliament to urge the government to take action to ensure that gig economy workers are entitled to superannuation and a fair rate of pay.

CORPORATES
AUSTRALIAN LABOR PARTY, FACEBOOK INCORPORATED, AMAZON.COM INCORPORATED, UBER TECHNOLOGIES INCORPORATED, GOOGLE INCORPORATED, FOODORA AUSTRALIA PTY LTD, DELIVEROO AUSTRALIA PTY LTD, TRANSPORT WORKERS’ UNION

Stranger Things: Netflix and the challenge of tax in a digital world

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Original article by Max Mason
The Australian Financial Review – Page: 29 : 1-Jul-19

The federal government has introduced laws in recent years that aim to ‘claw back’ revenue that international businesses such as Google and Netflix earn from Australian consumers and businesses. However, the laws’ effectiveness could be called in question in the case of Netflix; it is generating hundreds of millions of dollars in revenue in Australia, but that revenue is being booked by a company based in the Netherlands. A Netflix spokesperson notes that its financial practices comply with Australian and international tax laws. Roy Morgan has estimated that 11.3 million Australians were using Netflix in the three months to February.

CORPORATES
GOOGLE INCORPORATED, NETFLIX INCORPORATED, NETFLIX INTERNATIONAL BV, NETFLIX AUSTRALIA PTY LTD, ROY MORGAN LIMITED, FACEBOOK INCORPORATED, ORGANISATION FOR ECONOMIC CO-OPERATION AND DEVELOPMENT

Legal privilege claims in 20pc of ATO multinational cases

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Original article by Tim Pallas
The Australian Financial Review – Page: 10 : 27-Jun-19

The Australian Taxation Office has revealed that its push to crack down on tax avoidance by multinationals is being stymied by excessive claims that requested documents are protected by legal professional privilege. Deputy commissioner Mark Konza says that of the 122 audits of large multinationals that the ATO is currently undertaking, 24 companies have sought a blanket claim for legal professional privilege. This includes about 19,000 documents in one instance.

CORPORATES
AUSTRALIAN TAXATION OFFICE

Toughened laws take a bite from Apple and co

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Original article by Adam Creighton, Andrew White
The Australian – Page: 1 & 6 : 29-Jun-18

Microsoft, Google, Facebook, and Apple collectively paid Australian taxes of $A616 million in the most recent financial year. This represents an increase of 160 per cent over the previous corresponding period. Anthony Ting from the University of Sydney says the Multinational Anti-Avoidance Law appears to have resulted in the large US technology firms booking more of their revenue in Australia. However, he believes that there is scope for more tax to be recovered from them.

CORPORATES
MICROSOFT CORPORATION, GOOGLE INCORPORATED, FACEBOOK INCORPORATED, APPLE INCORPORATED, UNIVERSITY OF SYDNEY, AUSTRALIAN TAXATION OFFICE, KPMG AUSTRALIA PTY LTD, ONE NATION PARTY

Tax lost as $16bn profits go offshore

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Original article by Adam Creighton
The Australian – Page: 19 : 19-Jun-18

Profit-shifting by multinationals is estimated to cost Australia about $A5.4bn a year in foregone corporate tax revenue, according to international research. Economists from the University of California, Berkeley and the University of Copenhagen concluded that Australia loses about seven per cent of its corporate tax revenue due to the practice of shifting profits to tax havens. The research is based on data from 2015, which precedes Federal Government initiatives such as its Diverted Profits Tax and the Multinational Anti-Avoidance Law.

CORPORATES
UNIVERSITY OF CALIFORNIA, BERKELEY, UNIVERSITY OF COPENHAGEN, ORGANISATION FOR ECONOMIC CO-OPERATION AND DEVELOPMENT, GOOGLE INCORPORATED

Former US official warns on digital tax

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Original article by Nassim Khadem
The Age – Page: 23 : 5-Jun-18

The federal government is examining ways of taxing the billions in advertising revenue that digital companies Google and Facebook are generating. One option under consideration is a three per cent tax on turnover. Bob Stack, who was previously an official with the US Treasury under the administration of Barack Obama, does not think such a tax is a good idea. He says it could result in double taxation and might spark retaliation from the US government, which could increase taxes on Australian companies.

CORPORATES
GOOGLE INCORPORATED, FACEBOOK INCORPORATED, DELOITTE LLP, UNITED STATES. DEPT OF THE TREASURY, AUSTRALIA. DEPT OF THE TREASURY, AUSTRALIAN TAXATION OFFICE, APPLE INCORPORATED, AMAZON.COM INCORPORATED, ORGANISATION FOR ECONOMIC CO-OPERATION AND DEVELOPMENT

Crossbenchers link Google levy to company tax support

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Original article by Ben Packham
The Australian – Page: 1 & 4 : 21-May-18

The Federal Government will shortly release a discussion paper on the taxation of multinational technology companies. Centre Alliance senators Rex Patrick and Stirling Griff have signalled that the proposed "Google tax" may influence how they vote on the government’s corporate tax package. Senator Patrick says the party wants to ensure that digital companies are taxed appropriately, which it believes is not the case at present. Treasurer Scott Morrison flagged a tax crackdown on technology companies in his Budget speech.

CORPORATES
CENTRE ALLIANCE, AUSTRALIA. DEPT OF THE TREASURY, GOOGLE INCORPORATED, FACEBOOK INCORPORATED, AUSTRALIA. DEPT OF FINANCE, AUSTRALIA. DEPT OF THE PRIME MINISTER AND CABINET

ATO’s $75bn crackdown on debt

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Original article by Ben Butler
The Australian – Page: 13 : 18-Dec-17

The Australian Taxation Office is understood to have reached settlements with 12 multinational companies in regard to related party debt. The value of the borrowings in question is put at $A75 billion. ATO Deputy Commissioner Jeremy Hirschhorn says the term of the settlements provide for future tax revenues, as well as resolving past disputes. He says the ATO is now working with an additional 60 taxpayers, with the value of their related party debt accounting for around $A120 billion.

CORPORATES
AUSTRALIAN TAXATION OFFICE, FEDERAL COURT OF AUSTRALIA, CHEVRON AUSTRALIA PTY LTD

$5bn hit targets tech giants

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Original article by Nick Tabakoff
The Australian – Page: 1 & 6 : 30-Nov-17

Australian Taxation Office commissioner Chris Jordan says its clampdown on multinationals has unearthed $A5 billion in unpaid taxes in just 16 months. Jordan claims that multinationals have tried to intimidate the ATO into giving them reduced assessments, and that they have tried to "bamboozle" him with excessive documentation and diagrams. Jordan is particularly critical of the manner in which Google has structured its business affairs in Australian to avoid paying as little tax as possible.

CORPORATES
AUSTRALIAN TAXATION OFFICE, GOOGLE INCORPORATED, GOOGLE AUSTRALIA PTY LTD, FACEBOOK INCORPORATED, AMAZON.COM INCORPORATED, MICROSOFT CORPORATION, CHEVRON CORPORATION, JB HI-FI LIMITED – ASX JBH, HARVEY NORMAN HOLDINGS LIMITED – ASX HVN, AUSTRALIAN SECURITIES AND INVESTMENTS COMMISSION