Google, Facebook now paying more tax in Australia

THE Daily Telegraph can reveal an extra $496 million in GST was paid in the past 18 months in a Turnbull government crackdown on tax avoidance.

Facebook founder Mark Zuckerberg. Picture: Bloomberg

TAX authorities have clawed back almost $500 million from international corporations such as Facebook and Google.

The good news comes even as Treasury moves to clamp down on an explosion of dodgy foreign trusts being used to get around Australia’s tax laws.

The Daily Telegraph can reveal an extra $496 million in GST was paid in the past 18 months in a Turnbull government crackdown on tax avoidance. But corporate giants such as Facebook are still paying tiny amounts of tax — just $3.3 million in 2016 on revenues of $325 million — with one accounting firm marketing products specifically designed to get around the rules.

Facebook’s 2016 Australian tax bill of $3.3m is still a fraction of its $325m revenue that year. Picture: AFP

Revenue Minister Kelly O’Dwyer will reveal changes to the tax rules today, threatening to aggressively pursue companies using overseas trusts and other exotic arrangements to avoid tax.

“Deliberate tax avoidance will not be tolerated,” Ms O’Dwyer told The Telegraph. “Tax cheats will be tracked down and will face the full force of the law ... we are now making the law even tougher by extending who it applies to. As a result of these new laws, more money will be invested here, benefiting our community and helping guarantee the essential services and infrastructure Australians rely on.”

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More than $7 billion in sales revenue that previously flowed through offshore companies because of tax loopholes is returning, Australian Taxation Office figures show.

The extra GST revenue is being generated from sales by companies such as Facebook being booked in Australia.

The ATO has also identified 38 major taxpayers — including Facebook and Google — who have been forced to rearrange their tax affairs to comply with the new laws.

However, despite a bumper $326.7 million in revenues in 2016 — the last year records have been made public — Facebook also splashed out $275 million in “costs” despite barely employing more than 80 people in Australia.

The ATO became concerned about new exotic company arrangements designed to send tax overseas in late 2016, including a scheme that allows foreign companies to effectively dodge the international tax crackdown by operating through a fake local partnership.