The National Australia Bank (NAB) appears to have secured a multi-million benefit by resolving a 15-year-old dispute with the Australian Taxation Office (ATO).
NAB announced to the Australian Securities Exchange today that it had resolved the dispute with the ATO over the tax treatment of an Exchangeable Capital Units (ExCaps) capital raising, and had done so without any admission of liability.
It said that as a result of the resolution, NAB would obtain a refund of some amounts previously paid to the ATO in relation to the ExCaps assessments.
The announcement said that under the agreement, NAB’s tax assessments for the year 1997 to 2007 had been reduced, resulting in a reduction of approximately $142 million in tax, subject to final interest and other adjustments.
NAB said the tax refund would be excluded from cash earnings.
