Australia: Public country-by-country reporting legislation introduced

The federal government on 5 June 2024 introduced legislation to the Australian Parliament that proposes to implement public country-by-country (CbC) reporting for multinational enterprises (MNEs) for reporting periods that start on or after 1 July 2024.

The Australian rules are broadly based on the narrative and quantitative reporting aspects of Global Reporting Initiatives’ (GRI) Sustainability Reporting Standards, in particular GRI 207-1 and 207-4.

Under these rules, in-scope groups will generally be required to provide the following information to the Australian Commissioner of Taxation (Commissioner):

• Names of each entity in the CbC reporting group
• Description of the CbC reporting group’s approach to tax
• Quantitative tax information for the income year shown for the relevant jurisdictions in which the CbC reporting group operates

This information will then be made publicly available on an Australian government website.

The rules require submission of the select tax information within 12 months of the end of the reporting period. 

An important aspect of the measure is that disaggregated country level reporting is required for specified jurisdictions, with the list implemented by way of a determination / legislative instrument. However, the finalised list has not been published in parallel with the introduction of the bill.

Read a June 2024 report prepared by the KPMG member firm in Australia

For more information, contact a KPMG tax professional in Australia:

Alia Lum | alum@kpmg.com.au

Tim Keeling | tkeeling1@kpmg.com.au

Philip Beswick | pbeswick@kpmg.com.au

Amanda Maguire | amaguire@kpmg.com.au