Govt delivers on private company privacy
Groups including the Family Office Institute and the Law Council appear to have won the day on protecting the privacy of Australian private companies.
The Government yesterday succeeded in ensuring the passage of the Tax and Superannuation Laws Amendment (Better Targeting the Incomes Tax Transparency Laws) Bill through the Parliament.
The legislation, aimed at protecting the privacy of private companies including those utilised by high net worths and family offices, had been strongly supported by a range of accounting and legal groups.
Commenting on the passage of the legislation, the Assistant Treasurer, Kelly O'Dwyer, said it meant that the Coalition Government had ensured the taxation details of Australian-owned private companies would remain exempt from Labor's public disclosure taxation rules.
She said that without the amendments passed through the Parliament this week, the current legislation would have required the Commissioner of Taxation to publish tax information of Australian owned private companies with income of $100 million or more.
"This would have posed a risk to their position in the market by making key economic information on these firms available to competitors and suppliers," O'Dwyer said. "This information could have affected the privacy and personal security of the ultimate owners of around 800 Australian owned private companies."
The minister said the Australian Taxation Office retained comprehensive powers to obtain all the information it required to properly assess the tax liabilities of companies and that the public disclosure of tax information law would continue to apply to multinational enterprises operating in Australia and Australian public companies
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