Today, e-commerce giant Google has announced that they have settled their tax dispute with the Australian Taxation Office (ATO) with a payment of an extra $481.5 million on top of their previous tax payments. They join the likes of Microsoft, Apple and Facebook who have all publicly stated that they have settled their tax affairs with the ATO and we welcome their transparency.
This result brings the increased collections made against taxpayers in the ecommerce industry to around $1.25 billion cash.
Thanks to the efforts of our ATO officers under the Tax Avoidance Taskforce and the introduction of the Multinational Anti-Avoidance Law (MAAL), Australian sourced sales by these digital giants will now be returned to Australia’s tax base.
The operation of the MAAL has already seen $7 billion in taxable sales being returned to Australia. That’s $7 billion in sales booked, and the appropriate profit of these activities taxed, in Australia for the first time and locked in for the future. It has also led to the resolution of cases which had over $1 billon in back tax assessments.
“This settlement is another great outcome for the Australian Tax System,” Deputy Commissioner Mark Konza said.
“It adds to the significant success of the ATO in positively changing the behaviour of digital taxpayers and significantly increasing the tax they pay in Australia.
“The extension of the Taskforce until 2023 will ensure that the ATO is able to continue to pursue these issues and provide assurance to the community that we are doing everything in our power to protect Australia’s tax base,” Mr Konza said.
