Google Australia is set to lock horns with the Australian Taxation Office (ATO) after being issued with an amended tax bill following financial audits by the Australian tax collector.
Google Australia reported revenue of $1.14 billion in 2016 but paid just over $16 million in tax, according to its ASIC financial filings. From January 2016, the company restructured to record revenue from selling to Australian-based customers. This resulted in a revenue increase of $644 million.
As a result, it declared a profit of $121 million in 2016, an increase from $50 million the previous year and showed the company paid an effective tax rate of 13.7 per cent.
During a parliamentary hearing in April 2015, Google, Microsoft and Apple revealed that they were all being audited by the ATO, while giving evidence at a Senate inquiry into tax avoidance.
In September 2016, the ATO put the “big four” accounting firms on alert, issuing a message warning of schemes to avoid the Multinational Anti-Avoidance Law (MAAL), also known as the Google Tax.
ATO deputy commissioner, Mark Konza told the Australian Financial Review in September 2016 that he had been at a presentation by a major accounting firm, with a client present, of a scheme to redirect Australian sales through a partnership where only 1 per cent of profits went to the Australian partner and the rest went to a company in a low-tax jurisdiction.
"We only became aware of this new scheme two weeks ago," he said at the time. "We were so disturbed by such a blatant attempt to undermine the will of parliament [in the MAAL] that we fast-tracked this alert."
Slim tax tally sees Google clash with the ATO
Google Australia reported revenue of $1.14 billion in 2016 but paid just over $16 million in tax, according to its ASIC financial filings. From January 2016, the company restructured to record revenue from selling to Australian-based customers. This resulted in a revenue increase of $644 million.
As a result, it declared a profit of $121 million in 2016, an increase from $50 million the previous year and showed the company paid an effective tax rate of 13.7 per cent.
During a parliamentary hearing in April 2015, Google, Microsoft and Apple revealed that they were all being audited by the ATO, while giving evidence at a Senate inquiry into tax avoidance.
In September 2016, the ATO put the “big four” accounting firms on alert, issuing a message warning of schemes to avoid the Multinational Anti-Avoidance Law (MAAL), also known as the Google Tax.
ATO deputy commissioner, Mark Konza told the Australian Financial Review in September 2016 that he had been at a presentation by a major accounting firm, with a client present, of a scheme to redirect Australian sales through a partnership where only 1 per cent of profits went to the Australian partner and the rest went to a company in a low-tax jurisdiction.
"We only became aware of this new scheme two weeks ago," he said at the time. "We were so disturbed by such a blatant attempt to undermine the will of parliament [in the MAAL] that we fast-tracked this alert."
Slim tax tally sees Google clash with the ATO
