The financial affairs of numerous previously low-key unlisted or foreign-owned companies headquartered in Western Australia have been released by the Australian Tax Office.
The financial affairs of numerous previously low-key unlisted or foreign-owned companies headquartered in Western Australia have been released by the Australian Taxation Office.
The 2013-14 revenue earned and tax payable by companies such as Wilson Parking, Tronox, Wood Group, Wirtgen, World Fuel Services and CNOOC has been made public.
The WA-based companies are part of a list of around 1500 large corporate taxpayers with revenue above $100 million that the ATO has published for the first time. Most of that group are listed but a significant number of unlisted public companies that often go beneath the radar even though they are obliged to submit public accounts.
Next year the ATO will publish tax details in relation to about 300 big private corporations, although it is understood the revenue threshold for disclosure is much higher at $200 million.
The ATO stated that the publication of the data was part of a much wider domestic and global push for improved corporate transparency, particularly in relation to the tax system.
Collectively, these 1,500 large corporates paid almost $40 billion in company tax in the 2014 fiscal year.
Many of the companies below paid tax, in some cases considerable amounts, on the income revealed for 2013-14, while the ATO said some did not pay any. It also stated that many had legitimate reasons for not paying tax, which typically is paid on profits.
For instance, according to the tax office numbers released for that financial year, two entities Japanese-controlled entities Bluewaters Power 1 and Bluewaters Power 2 had almost $400 million in revenue but had no tax payable, according to the ATO.
Chinese energy group CNOOC also had two entities disclosed. CNOOC Australia Energy had income of $380.9 million and paid $38.1 million in tax, while CNOOC Gas and Power Aus Investment had $310.4 million in income but had no tax payable.
US-headquartered inorganic minerals and chemicals group Tronox has two Australian companies. Tronox and Tronox Australia Pigments Holdings which had a combined total income of $1.52 billion without any tax payable.
In other cases Wilson Parking Australia 1992 had about $11 million in tax payable on total income of $898 million, German construction equipment subsidiary Wirtgen Australia had tax payable of $3.1 million on total income of $192.7 million, US-based fuel supplier World Fuel Services (Australia)’s income was $107 million without tax payable, UK energy services business Wood Group Australia had tax payable of $3.1 million on total income of $675 million.
