Global Daily Tax News, Australia Legislates For Public CbC Reporting Rules, (Jun 17, 2024)

The Australian Government recently tabled legislation in the nation's parliament for the introduction of a public country-by-country reporting obligation.

The Treasury Laws Amendment (Responsible Buy Now Pay Later and Other Measures) Bill 2024 includes a number of tax changes, including the public CbC reporting rules in Schedule 4.

The measure would amend the Taxation Administration Act 1953 (TAA) to require certain large multinational enterprises to publish selected tax information on a CbC basis for specified jurisdictions, and on either a CbC basis or an aggregated basis for the rest of the world.

The information is to be published on an Australian Government website, with publication facilitated by the Commissioner.

Tabling the amendment, the Government said, "The objective of these amendments is to improve information flows to help the public, including investors, to compare entity tax disclosures, to better assess whether an entity's economic presence in a jurisdiction aligns with the amount of tax they pay in that jurisdiction."

The measure is intended to apply to reporting periods commencing on or after July 1, 2024.