This year's report analyses aggregated data from the 2021–22 income tax returns of some of the largest corporations operating in Australia. It describes changes and trends in key headline figures for the population, as well as data by industry segment and ownership group.
The corporate tax transparency population includes:
- Australian public and foreign-owned corporate tax entities with total income of $100 million or more
- Australian-owned resident private companies with total income of $200 million or more
- entities that have petroleum resource rent tax (PRRT) payable.
Note: The above income thresholds will change from 2024, impacting the population and the trends in future reports.
Legislation specifies the type of information we are required to report on. In producing this report – for corporations that meet the population income threshold – we take the data from 3 labels in the tax return:
- total income
- taxable income
- tax payable.
Note: Data in the corporate tax transparency report is taken directly from tax returns at a certain point in time and does not reflect any intervention or compliance work after lodgment of the returns (including settlement outcomes).
Corporations can also publish their own reports about their tax positions through the Voluntary Tax Transparency Code.
Highlights
- There are 2,713 entities in this year's population, representing a net increase of 245 entities (9.9%) on 2020–21.
- Total income for 2021–22 was $2,630.6 billion, an increase of 14.7%.
- Taxable income was $341.4 billion, an increase of 33.1%.
- Tax payable was $83.8 billion, an increase of 22.2%.
- Foreign-owned entities accounted for 55.1% of this year's corporate transparency population and 28.3% of tax payable.
- Australian public entities accounted for 21.7% of this year's corporate transparency population and 60.2% of tax payable.
- Australian private entities accounted for 23.1% of this year's corporate transparency population and nearly 11.5% of tax payable.
- Entities with income of more than $5 billion represented 2.9% of the corporate transparency population and accounted for 57.0% of tax payable ($47.8 billion).
- Entities with income of between $250 million and $5 billion represented the largest portion (56.5%) of the corporate transparency population and accounted for 38.1% of the tax payable ($31.9 billion).
- Medium entities – those with income of less than $250 million – represented 40.6% of the corporate transparency population and accounted for only 4.9% of the tax payable ($4.1 billion).
- Tax payable in the corporate transparency population was again dominated by the Mining, Energy and Water segment at 50.6% ($42.4 billion) of the total. This year the Mining, Energy and Water segment increased by $10.2 billion (31.6%) on last year.
- Approximately 31% of entities paid nil tax (12% incurred an accounting loss, 7% incurred a tax loss, 2% utilised offsets, 10% utilised tax losses from prior year).
- PRRT payable increased 115.6% from $926.0 million last year to $1,996.6 million this year.
Interpreting the results
Many large corporate groups consist of smaller entities whose aggregated total income meets the transparency population income thresholds. If these entities are not consolidated for tax purposes, some or all of the entities may not individually meet the income thresholds for inclusion in the report.
The complexity and diversity of large corporate groups mean that the corporation's income may be distributed and returned by multiple entities within an economic group. This can change the nil tax paid percentages when the entire group is taken into consideration. For a detailed explanation, see Net losses and nil tax payable.
It is important to note that the total figures in this report cannot reflect the:
- complexity of the tax system
- relationships between entities
- calculations behind the numbers
- extent and nature of any ATO activity.
Corporate tax transparency reports are our analysis of the aggregate annual tax return data published in the annual Report of entity tax informationExternal Link. Some names listed in the Report of entity tax information may be recognisable to the public and connections to high-profile individuals may be the subject of public knowledge. Due to secrecy provisions in the tax law we are only able to publish certain data in respect each eligible entity. Secrecy provisions prevent us from disclosing any additional information about specific entities beyond the three data points provided for in the legislation.
Tax information is protected by privacy legislation, this limits what we can cover in this report such as the report does not include operating profits, tax losses or tax offsets, which can help to provide a more complete understanding of a corporate's tax position.
The data does not reflect any audit or compliance work. The report is based on information contained in an entity's tax return at a point in time. The tax return may later be amended, and the amount published in this report may no longer reflect the amount of tax actually paid. However, when we lock in go forward outcomes as part of settlements these will be reflected in the future tax returns lodged and the outcomes reflected in future reports.
Figures in this report have generally been rounded, which may result in differences between totals and sums of components in the charts and text.
Changes to future reports
Changes to the tax law will alter the threshold for inclusion in the corporate tax transparency report for the 2022–23 income year and each later income year. The amendment changes the $200 million income threshold for Australian-owned resident private companies to $100 million. This will affect the data that will be reported in 2024 and onwards.
This change will significantly increase the population size the corporate tax transparency report and affect the trends in this contextual analysis.
You can read more about the law change in Treasury Laws Amendment (2022 Measures No. 1) Act 2022External Link.