August
Chris Ellison’s daughter earns millions for MinRes shipping work
Mineral Resources requires ship owners carrying the group’s iron ore exports to use a shipping agent owned by the daughter of the chief executive, says Ownership Matters.
- Opinion
- PwC tax scandal
Penitence, bravado and rattling the PwC can
The firm’s alumni deploy the “I take full responsibility, it was all the other guy’s fault” defence.
July
- Investigation
- Cyprus Confidential
Importers got rich on COVID masks; the shipment’s still on the dock
When COVID-19 erupted around the world, the race was on to secure masks and gowns. Middlemen were in lucrative taxpayer deals, even one which went awry.
- Opinion
- Rear Window
Rupert Murdoch’s family plan explodes
Project Harmony has hit the world’s rockiest succession plan like a tactical nuclear device.
- Opinion
- Rear Window
How Adobe’s PwC tax strategy came unstuck
The manoeuvres of US tech giants to avoid the Multinational Anti Avoidance Law left a paper trail.
- Opinion
- Rear Window
Chris Jordan’s valuable insights into shell companies
When it came to regulating the offshore world, the former tax commissioner had personal experience that he could have shared.
KPMG’s ghosts in the machine
A radioactive file outlining partners’ alleged behaviour could be called Wild, Crazy Things that Tax Accountants Do.
- Opinion
- Rear Window
The Tax Office, the TPB and the kerfuffle wars
After numerous attempts to sideline Tax Practitioners Board CEO Michael O’Neill, the Tax Office turned its sights on the media.
June
- Exclusive
- Tax avoidance
‘Poacher turned gamekeeper’: The tax commissioner’s secret money trail
Before he was tax commissioner, Chris Jordan was involved in a transfer from a mystery company in the Isle of Man and a casino junket venture that turned out to be a Ponzi scheme.
‘This may not end well for you’: The secret war behind the PwC inquiry
Documents tabled by three federal agencies raise questions about whether the ATO tried to shut down the investigation into the PwC tax leaks and targeted the man leading it, Michael O’Neill.
March
ATO officer gets 30 months jail for accepting bribes
The Australian Taxation Office auditor took bribes to cut personal and business tax debts by millions of dollars over six years.
February
Offshore tax leaks went beyond the ‘dirty six’, Senate told
The Tax Practitioners Board investigation is now targeting international partners who shared leaked emails.
- Opinion
- ATO
No one is responsible for $2b GST debacle
Two years of committee meetings, $2 billion lost and still the ATO doesn’t know who should have picked up the fraud assigned to Operation Protego.
Tax office row over PwC leaks investigation flares in Senate
Senior ATO official Jeremy Hirschhorn says moves to prevent Tax Practitioners Board CEO Michael O’Neill getting a position “didn’t happen”. Mr O’Neill points to changes in his contract.
Ex-EY tax partner’s new evidence thrown out as ‘an abuse of process’
The former partner’s last-minute attempt to get new evidence admitted to stop him being named has been thrown out.
- Exclusive
- PwC tax scandal
Inside the Tax Office’s bitter feud over PwC
The Tax Office made multiple attempts to sideline or to engineer the dismissal of Michael O’Neill because of his team’s actions in investigating PwC.
January
- Exclusive
- Tax avoidance
The crisis that forged the new tax commissioner
Days into his new job at Treasury almost 13 years ago, Rob Heferen faced a huge tax scandal after consultations with the big four firms backfired.
November 2023
EY admits staffer drafted papers for alleged tax exploitation partner
EY Australia has admitted a staff member helped draft documents for a former partner who allegedly promoted tax exploitation schemes, but the firm says the person was acting on instructions and has not been disciplined.
- Investigation
- Cyprus Confidential
Emails show PwC helped Russians dodge sanctions
Leaked documents reveal how accounting giant PwC’s Cyprus arm scrambled to help Russian oligarchs stay ahead of sanctions in the days after the Ukraine invasion.
What is Cyprus Confidential?
An eight-month investigation of 3.6 million leaked documents has uncovered how Cyprus offshore firms helped Russian elites hide their wealth.