Australia announces expert group to tackle multinational tax minimisation strategies
International Tax Review is part of the Delinian Group, Delinian Limited, 4 Bouverie Street, London, EC4Y 8AX, Registered in England & Wales, Company number 00954730
Copyright © Delinian Limited and its affiliated companies 2024

Accessibility | Terms of Use | Privacy Policy | Modern Slavery Statement

Australia announces expert group to tackle multinational tax minimisation strategies

aus.jpg

David Bradbury, Australia’s assistant treasurer, yesterday announced the members that will make up the country’s new specialist reference group, which is tasked with examining the tax minimisation strategies used by multinationals and “its risks to the sustainability of Australia’s corporate tax base”.

“The way companies do business is changing and we need to ensure that international tax systems keep pace,” said Bradbury.

The assistant treasurer has asked the Treasury to work on a paper that will assess the risks to the sustainability of Australia’s corporate tax base from multinational companies’ tax minimisation techniques, as well as identifying potential responses.

“This specialist reference group will feed into that process, with Treasury drawing on members’ knowledge and expertise,” said Bradbury.

The formation of a specialist group comes in the wake of a raft of revelations about the amounts of corporation tax paid by multinational companies in certain jurisdictions. For example, Google, Amazon and Starbucks have all come under scrutiny in the UK in recent weeks.

Bradbury acknowledges that countries across the globe must take action to keep up with increasingly more innovative tax planning techniques.

“Governments around the world need to re-examine many of the key rules of international taxation, which are not keeping up with the changing business models and tax planning arrangements of many multinational companies,” he said.

Bradbury also said a key role of the group will be to “build community understanding of the nature of the challenges we face”. It will hold its first meeting in February 2013.

Group members:

Rob Heferen (chairman), executive director of the Treasury’s revenue group; Michael Bersten, partner at PwC; Michael D’Ascenzo, commissioner of taxation 2006-2012; Frank Drenth, executive director of the Corporate Tax Association of Australia; Serena Lillywhite, mining advocacy coordinator at OxFam Australia; Ross Lyons, general manager, tax, Asia Pacific for Rio Tinto; Tim Lyons, assistant secretary, ACTU; Peter Madden, partner at Deloitte; Jason Sharman, director at Griffith University’s Centre for Governance and Public Policy; Greg Smith, adjunct professor at the Australian Catholic University and senior fellow of the Melbourne Law Masters; Tony Stolarek, partner at Ernst & Young; Niv Tadmore, partner at Clayton Utz; Brian Wilson, chairman of the Foreign Investment Review Board; and Mark Zirnsak, director of the Justice and International Mission Unit, Uniting Church.

more across site & bottom lb ros

More from across our site

Jeremy Brown arrives at the firm after a near 16-year career with Deloitte
PwC could elect a woman into the senior leadership position for the first time; in other news, KPMG Australia has extended its CEO’s term
The Senate report into PwC’s scandal is titled ‘The cover up worsens the crime’
Law firms that are conscious of their role in society are more likely to win work, according to a survey of over 23,000 in-house professionals
The firm’s tax business generated a quarter of HLB’s overall revenues in 2023
While successful pillar two implementation will require collaboration across all units, a combination of internal and external tax advice is at the centre of the effort
Binance has also been accused of manipulating foreign exchange rates via currency speculation and rate-fixing
Six individuals should have raised questions over information they received but did not breach professional standards, according to the firm
The partnership of KPMG UK has installed Holt for a second term as CEO and senior partner; in other news, a Baker McKenzie partner has sued the IRS
HSBC has settled a claim originally worth £240m relating to a failed film tax relief scheme without admitting liability or wrongdoing
Gift this article