Australian public country by country reporting laws passed

The Australian Parliament has passed legislation that will introduce public country by country (CBC) reporting obligations with effect from 1 July 2024. This will require large multinational groups with an Australian presence to submit data on their global financial and tax footprint to the Australian Taxation Office (ATO), which will be made available publicly. This new obligation will apply in addition to existing confidential CBC reporting regime and any other public CBC reporting regime that a multinational group may be subject to (e.g. the European Union regime).

Scope of the rules

Key features of the rules are summarised below:

Matters to be considered in administrative guidance

The ATO will be responsible for issuing guidance on several practical matters relating to the implementation of the new regime. The ATO has indicated that it expects to issue guidance by March 2025. Matters on which guidance is likely to be needed include:

• Lodgment mechanics: For example, confirming the technical specifications of the file (the specific XML schema and validation rules), the portal through which files will be able to be submitted, whether any registration is required by the global parent entity, whether files will need to be submitted by an agent and who is required to approve a file prior to lodgment.
• Exemptions: The ATO website indicates that public guidance on the process for seeking exemptions is expected to be available by March 2025. The law is not prescriptive on the circumstances in which exemptions will be considered, but the explanatory memorandum notes that it may include considering whether disclosure of the data would impact national security, breach Australian or foreign laws, or result in substantial ramifications for an entity by revealing commercially sensitive information.
• Definitions and interpretations: Technical guidance may be needed on specific definitions that require clarification for the public CBC report.

(Addendum 20 January 2025) The 'specified’ countries for which the required information will need to be reported separately on a CBC basis has now been made and registered (17 December 2024). It covers 40 countries including Singapore, Switzerland and Hong Kong, and is broader than that adopted under the EU public CBC reporting regime.

Although there is still time before the first reports will be due, it is not too early for groups to begin to prepare for the public CBC reporting obligations. This may include:

• Evaluating whether you fall within the scope of the rules.
• Ensuring relevant stakeholders within your organisation are aware of the upcoming obligations.
• Reviewing the readiness of your systems and processes to gather the data needed, and to be confident that the different data required across Australian public CBC reporting, confidential CBC reporting, EU public CBC reporting, Pillar Two, and other tax obligations can be reconciled and explained.
• Considering your communications strategy and whether it may be appropriate to voluntarily publish additional information or explanations to provide context for the CBC data that the ATO will publish.

For more on country by country reporting obligations, watch our October Tax Briefing.