The government has also introduced legislation into the Parliament (the Diverted Profits Tax Bill 2017) to implement the new Diverted Profits Tax from 1 July 2017.
The Diverted Profits Tax, announced in the 2016/17 Budget, targets multinationals that have global income of more than $1 billion and Australian income of more than $25 million, and which enter arrangements to divert their Australian profits to offshore related parties to avoid paying Australian tax.
On the same day, the government introduced the Treasury Laws Amendment (Combating Multinational Tax Avoidance) Bill 2017, which includes two further measures to ensure that multination’s pay the right amount of Australian tax and comply with their tax disclosure obligations: increasing the maximum penalty 100-times for large multinationals where they fail to lodge tax documents on time, and amending Australia’s transfer pricing law.
Editor: Both bills have been referred to the Senate Economics Legislation Committee for inquiry and report by 20 March 2017.
The government has also introduced the following Bills to Parliament:
- The Treasury Laws Amendment (GST Low Value Goods) Bill 2017 (which will effectively abolish the $1000 low value threshold from 1 July 2017);
- The Crimes Amendment (Penalty Unit) Bill 2017 (which will increase the amount of the Commonwealth penalty unit from $180 to $210, from 1 July 2017; and
- The Social Services Legislation Amendment (Omnibus and Child Care Reform) Bill 2017 (which makes changes to, e.g, the Child Care Rebate and Family Tax Benefit).
Editor: Note that the Treasury Laws Amendment (Enterprise Tax Plan) bill 2016 (which, amongst other things, proposes reducing the company tax rate over the next ten years) seems to have stalled somewhat in Parliament.
At the time of writing, it is uncertain whether this Bill will be passes in its current form, if at all…
Ref: Treasurer’s Media Releases, 8 and 9 February 2017.
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