Qantas, Virgin Australia, Viva Energy Group paid no corporate income tax
Almost a third of Australian public companies paid no tax with some big names featuring on the list, but the tax office said there can be legitimate reasons.
Almost a third of Australian public companies paid no tax in 2020-21, although the top payers including banks and mining companies forked out $33 billion to the government, a new report has revealed.
The Australian Taxation Office released its corporate tax transparency report which found 2500 companies paid a combined $68.6 billion in income tax, an $11.4 billion lift or a rise of 19.8 per cent compared to the previous year.
The data revealed that the top three companies to pay corporate tax were BHP Group handing over $7.3 billion, mining group Rio Tinto paying out $6.2 billion and Fortescue Metals with $5.8 billion injected to government coffers in the 2020-21 financial year.
BHP Iron Ore also forked out $2.5 billion, Roy Hill Holdings paid up $1.9 billion and Hancock Prospecting delivered corporate tax of $1.1 billion, the report showed.
The major banks also delivered billions in corporate tax with Commonwealth Bank paying up$3.1 billion, Westpac giving $2.3 billion, ANZ handing out $1.6 billion and NAB delivering $1.3 billion to the government.
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The percentage of companies paying no income tax has decreased to 32 per cent from a high of 36 per cent in 2015–16, the report found, also noting genuine reasons for not paying could include failing to make a profit or claiming tax offsets.
“We pay close attention to companies not paying tax. We hold those companies that report continual year-on-year losses to an additional layer of scrutiny,” said ATO Deputy Commissioner Rebecca Saint.
“While it’s true some large entities paid no income tax, we’re seeing through our justified trust program that there are high levels of compliance by these entities, and taking decisive action where there’s not.”
Qantas is one company that has paid no income tax in the past two years.
It reported $5.9 billion in gross earnings in 2020-21 and no taxable income as it was severely hampered by the pandemic and the year before its gross earnings topped $13.9 billion, but no income tax was paid then either.
Virgin Australia also reported no taxable income and gross earnings of $6 billion.
Metal and mineral miner Glencore Investment reported no taxable income from $14.5 billion in revenue and petroleum company Ampol made $20 billion in revenue but paid no income tax.
Meanwhile, Viva Energy Group, which owns Shell-branded petrol stations registered $12.8 billion in revenue but also did not pay income tax.
In Australia, income tax is paid on profits and not revenue.
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However, the major supermarkets were also among the top revenue earners and also coughed up corporate tax.
Woolworths reported revenue of $49.8 billion and paid tax of $636.5 million, while Coles was slightly below with $43.4 billion in revenue and $455.6 million in income tax.
Aldi revenue jumped to $10.7 billion in 2020-21 and it paid $270 million in tax.
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