Josh Frydenberg says Coalition will not name and shame corporate tax dodgers

These multinationals are believed to have set-up complicated structures, involving transactions in several countries, which enables them to divert profits they make in Australia to places where there is little or low tax.

The corporate tax avoidance inquiry was established in October in response to a Fairfax Media report that revealed a third of Australia’s largest companies pay less than 10¢ in the dollar in tax compared to the 30 per cent corporate tax rate.

“Any information which could identify individual companies has been blocked out”, he told the Seven Network’s Sunday Night program.

One of these would allow ASIC to pass intelligence on suspect tax matters to the ATO without the current legal requirement to inform the company in its sights.

The Senate inquiry into multinational tax avoidance, led by Labor senator Sam Dastyari, will present an interim report today, which is expected to contain 18 recommendations including a proposal to “name and shame” companies not paying enough tax, although the idea remains short on detail when it comes to determining who has infringed.

On Saturday, Senator Dastyari said: “There is a major flaw in our tax system that is enabling some of the biggest companies in the world to evade billions in tax that should be paid in Australia”. It is understood the report will make more than a dozen recommendations, including that the Australian Tax Office (ATO) be forced to disclose all avoidance settlements above a certain level, and that a name-and-shame register should be created.

A Senate inquiry into tax avoidance is expected to table its first report in the parliament on Monday.

Dastyari says it’s important to set some ground rules in Australia which stop companies making profits in Australia sending the money offshore.

THE government will initiate a crack down on multinational tax dodgers within a month, Treasurer Joe Hockey says.

Senator Dastyari refused to provide the report, but suggested that privacy laws needed to be overhauled.

“The more public exposure, the more pressure that’s brought upon these companies, the better the policy outcome”.

“It’s extraordinary. This is a very serious issue that goes to the heart of the integrity of the entire Senate”, Hockey said.

However the senator denied speaking specifically about the unreleased report’s recommendations, insisting what he said were his personal views.

It was a sentiment echoed by Independent South Australian senator Nick Xenophon, who was also on the committee.

“The ATO is going after these companies”.

But it was the appearance of Google, Microsoft and Apple in front of the committee that drove home how “simple” tax minimisation was for multinationals operating in Australia, according to senators.

Firms quizzed by the upper house Senate hearings, including Apple, Google, Pfizer and Johnson & Johnson, said they had abided by local and global tax laws.

Google Australia managing director Maile Carnegie said the company made AU$58 million in revenue in 2013, and profits of just more than AU$46 million, but paid AU$7.1 million in tax.

The issue took centre stage at a global developing financing summit in Ethiopia last month.

While the Organisation for Economic Cooperation and Development (OECD), a grouping of wealthy nations, has played a key role in worldwide efforts to tackle tax avoidance, such concerns are also shared by developing countries.