CANBERRA, June 27 (Xinhua) -- An Australian taskforce has salvaged billions of dollars from multinational companies in just under a year, according to the latest tax office data.
Acting on laws that were passed to crack down on large-scale tax avoidance, the Australian Tax Office (ATO) has clawed back more than 2.7 billion Australian dollars (about 2 billion U.S. dollars), as revealed in an Australian newspaper on Wednesday.
More than 300 multinational companies operating in Australia are now under active audit or review by the ATO over potential tax avoidance, including banks, energy companies, insurance firms and manufacturers.
Treasurer Scott Morrison said countries were now following Australia's lead, claiming the government could now "better support the essential services Australians rely on and support tax relief for all Australians into the future."
"The Turnbull government has done more than any previous government to make sure multinationals pay their fair share of tax," Morrison was reported to have said in Wednesday's The Australian.
"More than 4.5 billion Australian dollars (3.3 billion U.S. dollars) in extra revenue from our new multinational laws is helping us to turn the corner on debt and get the budget back into balance."
The ATO estimates its move will eventually return more than 7 billion Australian dollars (5 billion U.S. dollars) a year in annual sales income to the tax system.
The data also reveals that a further 44 companies have moved their locally based sales revenues back onshore in response to the government's Multinational Anti-Avoidance Laws passed last year.
Australian Tax commissioner Chris Jordan argued that the difficulty with cracking down on multinational tax avoidance is securing international agreements.
"Australia is now regarded as leading the way on (anti-)tax avoidance, having forced the issue of multinationals and the big global digital players onto the G20 economic summit agenda," Jordan said.
Australia's states and territories are also reported to be reaping dividends from the crackdown, with increasing GST revenue from companies forced to restructure in line with the new Australian tax law regime.
