Australian-owned private companies are now exempt from public disclosure taxation rules, as the Tax and Superannuation Laws Amendment (Better Targeting the Income Tax Transparency Laws) Bill 2015 (the Bill) passed through the Senate yesterday.

The Bill amends the Taxation Administration Act 1953 to exempt Australian-owned private companies from the requirement that the Commissioner of Taxation publish information about a corporate tax entity with a total income equal to or exceeding $100 million for an income year.

The requirement to publish this information was enacted by the former Labor government on 29 June 2013. Pursuant to sub-section 3C of the Act, the Commissioner is required to publish the following information about a corporate tax entity with income of $100 million for an income year:

1. ABN and name;
2. total income for the income year;
3. taxable income or net income (if any) for the income year; and
4. income tax payable (if any) for the financial year.

It is estimated that the exemption will protect approximately 800 Australian-owned private companies from public disclosure of their income tax information. Trusts and partnerships which are not taxed as companies, and high net worth individuals are not subject to the public disclosure taxation rules.

The Bill was passed by the House of Representatives on 14 September 2015 and by the Senate on 15 October 2015. It is expected to be enacted into legislation in the coming weeks.

The media release from the Minister for Small Business and Assistant Treasurer, the Hon Kelly O'Dwyer MP contains further information.

 To discuss this Bill, or any other queries, please contact:

Daniel Smedley
Principal | Accredited Specialist in Tax Law
M +61 411 319 327
T +61 3 9611 0105
dsmedley@sladen.com.au

or

Kristy Merganovski
Lawyer
T +61 3 9611 0161
kmerganovski@sladen.com.au