The federal government will establish a tax avoidance taskforce to target large corporates and multinationals.
More than 1000 specialist staff in the Australian Tax Office will "police and prosecute" companies, multinationals and high wealth individuals at a cost of $678.9 million.
“Everyone has to pay their fair share of tax,” Federal Treasurer Scott Morrison said in his Budget speech.
“The Turnbull Government has been listening to the Australian people on this issue and is taking action.”
The budget measure will allow the ATO access to information by enhancing information sharing with the Australian Securities and Investments Commission. The ATO will receive a 55 per cent increase in funding for compliance programs and a 43 per cent increase in resources devoted to tackling multinationals.
The budget papers also indicate there will be better protection for tax whistleblowers in a measure to take effect from 1 July 2018. The Treasurer said protections will be "strengthened," and the budget papers state “individuals, including employees, former employees and advisers, disclosing information to the ATO will be better protected under the law.”
The new taskforce will add to other measures to combat multinational tax avoidance including:
- A new diverted profits tax, taxing multinationals on income they have sought to shift offshore at a penalty rate of 40%. This tax will apply to income years commencing on or after 1 July 2017. It’s estimated to have a gain to revenue of $200.00 million over the forward estimates period.
- Increasing penalties for multinationals that fail to meet their compliance and disclose obligations to the ATO.
“These measures will raise an additional $3.9 billion in revenue over the next four years,” Mr Morrison said.
“Helping us to reduce the tax burden on hard working Australians and small business.”
The issue of multinational and personal tax avoidance is front of mind for many governments and individuals following the release of the Panama Papers that highlighted the extent of such activities.
