Oil, gas giants driving positive trends in big business tax: ATO
The Tax Commissioner says most corporations are meeting their obligations, with 34 per cent having the highest level of compliance assurance.
Compliance among the top 1,000 taxpayers is “positive” and improving, driven by the tax performance of the oil and gas sector, the ATO says.
In a recent speech at the Tax Institute’s annual summit, Commissioner Rob Heferen said the ATO was confident most large businesses were doing the right thing and meeting their tax obligations.
Heferen said 34 per cent of taxpayers in its top 1,000 group of public and multinational businesses achieved the highest level of tax compliance assurance, previewing findings from the ATO’s corporate tax transparency report set to be released next month.
Those achieving “low assurance” decreased to 6 per cent.
In the ATO’s top 100 program, 59 per cent of taxpayers were rated as “high assurance”, an increase from 52 per cent in 2023.
Heferen said it meant “the trends we have observed towards positive improvements in tax compliance have also continued”.
Resource companies in particular were driving the positive results, owing to “a combination of business cycle factors and ATO intervention”.
“A number of oil and gas companies are among the largest taxpayers in Australia,” he said.
Large corporations are monitored by the ATO’s Tax Avoidance Taskforce.
Last year, the taskforce clawed back $3.6 billion in additional tax revenue from Australia’s largest public and multinational businesses, after securing $6.4 billion in 2022–23.
Of the $10 billion in additional revenue over the two years, Heferen said more than half could be attributed to “increased tax paid as a result of our intervention in earlier years, embedding improved taxpayer behaviours now coming to fruition … not all of this is due to amendment assessments from audits”.
Despite the improved performance, the ATO will continue to monitor the large market given “the importance of large corporates to our tax system and the complex interaction of tax laws with cross-border financial flows”.
“For the minority that seek to operate outside Australian law, we will continue to be well-resourced to address priority tax risks as we seek to sustain multinational and large taxpayer performance,” Heferen said.
The Commissioner also discussed the ATO’s collectable debt book of $50 billion and said it would be “strengthening” enforcement in the coming year.
The ATO’s broader debt book is the “largest it’s ever been” at $100 billion, or one-sixth of total tax collections in 2023–24 at $600 billion, he said.
As a result, taxpayers can expect the ATO to be “firmer and faster” when dealing with unpaid GST, PAYGW and super.
The ATO has also tightened up payment plans and general interest charge remissions and will be looking closely at lodgment deferrals and penalty remissions.
“We can’t shy away from collecting the right amount of tax and we can’t ignore our obligations under the law as Australia’s principal tax collector,” he said.
“Paying tax isn’t optional and it’s our responsibility to ensure a level playing field.”
About the author
