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Update on Australian Public Country-by-Country reporting
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  • 3 minute read
  • June 06, 2024

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Proposed public country-by-country reporting rules have been introduced into Australian Parliament. The rules, which are intended to take effect for reporting periods commencing on or after 1 July 2024, will require public disclosure of certain tax information by large groups with a presence in Australia.

6 June 2024

In Brief

On 5 June 2024, Treasury Laws Amendment (Responsible Buy Now Pay Later and Other Measures) Bill 2024 (the Bill) containing the proposed public country-by-country (CbC) reporting rules was introduced into Australian Parliament. The measures set out in the Bill, which will broadly require large multinational groups to publicly disclose certain tax information on a country by country basis and a statement on their approach to taxation, are largely consistent with those proposed in the exposure draft released in February 2024. Refer to our 13 February Tax Alert for further details.

In Detail

The Bill confirms the following details which were contained in the prior draft:

  • Once enacted, the rules will apply to years beginning on or after 1 July 2024. For December year-end groups, the 31 December 2025 year will be the first year for which public CbC reporting is required in Australia.
  • The rules will broadly apply to groups with an Australian presence (an Australian resident entity or an Australian permanent establishment), global consolidated income of more than AUD 1 billion in the prior year, and AUD 10 million or more of aggregated Australian sourced income in the current year. 
  • Separate disclosures of tax and financial data will be required by country for Australia and a list of ‘specified countries’ which will be confirmed by a Ministerial determination. Although a draft list of specified countries was released with the prior draft legislation, the final list is not included in the Bill or Explanatory Memorandum (EM) and will likely not be confirmed until after the laws are enacted.
  • Aggregation of all other jurisdictions will be permitted. Groups will also have the option to report all jurisdictions separately rather than aggregating if they prefer.
  • Penalties for non-compliance will be up to 2,500 penalty units (currently equivalent to AUD 782,500, but expected to increase from 1 July 2024).

Some minor amendments reflected in the Bill include:

  • Among the guidance materials relevant for interpreting the provisions, Global Reporting Initiative (GRI) 207 is given primacy.
  • The EM has been expanded to include examples of matters the Commissioner may consider when evaluating exemption requests from taxpayers. These matters include considering whether the disclosure of the information could impact national security, breach Australian law or the laws of another jurisdiction, or result in ‘substantial ramifications’ for an entity by revealing commercially sensitive information. 
  • Taxpayer-specific exemptions will only be able to be requested for a single reporting period. 
  • The EM acknowledges that some groups may choose to publish additional information providing context for their public CbC reporting disclosures on their own websites.

The Takeaway

The public CbC reporting measures were introduced into Parliament as part of a broader legislative package containing various unrelated matters, so the timing of when the Bill is passed by Parliament may be impacted by debate over the other measures. Notwithstanding this, we do not anticipate there will be any material amendments to the proposed rules or the start date before they are enacted. As such, we recommend groups begin to prepare for the new public CbC reporting rules now.

Contact us

If you would like to further discuss this alert, reach out to our team or your PwC adviser.

Georgie Hockings

Managing Director, PwC Australia

+61 417 534 787

Email

Greg Weickhardt

Partner, Global Tax, Melbourne, PwC Australia

613 8603 2547

Email

Nick Houseman

Australian Transfer Pricing Leader, Sydney, PwC Australia

+61 2 8266 4647

Email

Sarah Saville

Partner, Tax Reporting and Innovation, Sydney, PwC Australia

+61 421 052 504

Email

Chris Vanderkley

Special Counsel, Melbourne, PwC Australia

+61 412 170 744

Email

Sarah Stevens

Managing Director, Tax, PwC Australia

+61 2 8266 1148

Email

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