Yahoo Finance ATO claws back $6.4 billion in tax crackdown
The ATO has warned it will detect and pursue big businesses that try to “game the system”.
The Australian Taxation Office (ATO) has netted a record $6.4 billion in tax revenue from Australia’s largest businesses and multinationals.
The record-high result for the 2022-23 financial year is three times more than the average normally collected each year by the ATO’s Tax Avoidance Taskforce.
The tax revenue included a $1 billion landmark settlement with Rio Tinto in July last year, as well as a $157 million settlement with Ampol in February.
ATO commissioner Chris Jordan said the “outstanding result” was a direct consequence of the ATO's compliance intervention.
“The Taskforce scrutinises the tax outcomes of the largest 1,100 businesses and multinational groups to verify that they are paying the right amount of tax, and has helped to collect, on average, an additional $2 billion each year from public and multinational businesses,” Jordan said.
About $4.4 billion of the tax revenue clawed back last year came from the oil and gas sector.
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“Our intervention and strong commodity prices mean that some oil and gas companies are now among the biggest taxpayers in Australia,” Jordan said.
“Some of the revenue is already flowing through the system, positively impacting collections now and into the future.”
Jordan said the ATO had confidence most large businesses were doing the right thing.
“The community can be assured the ATO will detect and pursue those organisations that try to game the system,” he said.
Since the Taskforce was established in 2016, it has brought in more than $27.7 billion in additional tax revenue.
The ATO is unable to legally disclose the companies it has secured unpaid tax revenue from unless the settlement is a matter of public record. However, other companies previously involved have included Apple, BHP, Chevron, Facebook and Google.
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