The proportion of entities with nil tax payable has decreased over the past 3 years, from 34% in 2016–17 to 32% both this year and last year. The largest decline in the proportion of nil tax payable by ownership type over this period was in foreign-owned and Australian public entities. Australian private entities have seen a small increase in the proportion of entities with nil tax paid in 2018–19 but have seen a decline in nil tax paid entities over the 3 -year period.
The proportion of Australian public and foreign-owned entities with nil tax payable is higher when compared to Australian private entities (see Figure 24).
As mentioned in the Interpreting the results section, the ownership cohorts are not directly comparable as smaller Australian private entities with total income less than $200 million are not represented in the data.
Figure 24: Proportion of entities with nil tax payable, by ownership segment, 2016–17 to 2018–19