DIRS.INFO The most relevant business & tech news

REUTERS/Lewis Jackson/File PhotoSYDNEY, Aug 6 (Reuters) - Australia will drastically tighten penalties for promoters of dodgy tax schemes and beef up the power of regulators as part of reforms announced on Sunday in response to a scandal over the use of leaked tax plans by PwC Australia. PwC Australia was not fined for the breach under the existing rules, and the changes will not applied retroactively, a Treasury spokesperson told Reuters. "The PwC scandal exposed severe shortcomings in our regulatory frameworks," said the statement from the ministers for treasury and finance and the attorney general. The Australian Tax Office (ATO) foiled several attempts by companies to subvert the 2016 Multinational Anti-Avoidance Law but was frustrated in its subsequent investigation by "highly ambitious if not false" legal privilege claims from PwC Australia. Collins and PwC Australia were not sanctioned until late 2022 by a separate agency that regulates tax agents, the Tax Practitioners Board, after police said there was insufficient information for them to act.

Persons: Lewis Jackson, Peter Collins, Collins, William Mallard Organizations: REUTERS, PwC, Facebook, Bills, Reuters, Australian Tax, Thomson Locations: Barangaroo, Australia, PwC Australia

Uber and Facebook on Friday said they had received advice from PwC Australia about the law. "We had no knowledge their advice may have been based on improperly obtained information," an Uber spokesperson said. Uber dropped PwC Australia as a tax adviser in 2016 after "engagements" with the Australian Tax Office, the spokesperson added. Uber and Facebook's links to PwC on the leaked tax plans were first reported by the Australian Financial Review on Friday. A PwC Australia spokesperson said the matter "was a PwC issue" and its "clients were not involved in any wrongdoing and no confidential information was used to enable clients to pay less tax."

Persons: Uber, PwC, PwC's, Lewis Jackson, Sonali Paul Organizations: SYDNEY, PwC, Facebook, Reuters, Google, Australian Tax Office, Treasury, Australian, Tax, Board, Public Company, Thomson Locations: PwC Australia, Australia

SYDNEY, May 30 (Reuters) - Australian senators will use parliamentary hearings this week to demand accounting firm PricewaterhouseCoopers (PwC) name staff and clients who were in on the "big four" firm's misuse of confidential government tax plans. No confidential information was used to help clients pay less tax, it said in the statement on Monday. The cache of emails between 2014 and 2017 discuss how confidential drafts of new rules were used to seek work with U.S. technology companies, among others. The parliamentary committee will hear from the Australian Tax Office and the Tax Practitioners Board and Treasury, which last week referred the matter to police for a possible criminal investigation. Reporting by Lewis Jackson in Sydney; Editing by Sonali PaulOur Standards: The Thomson Reuters Trust Principles.

☆ Analysis: Australia's DIY pension funds lose millions on crypto bets, investors not sweating it
▼ + stars: | 2023-03-02 | by ( Lewis Jackson | ) www.reuters.com time to read: +6 min

Summary Thousands of Australians use DIY pension funds to buy cryptoLosses likely in the hundreds of millions -Reuters calculationAustralia has few rules governing what DIY funds can buySYDNEY, March 2 (Reuters) - Thousands of Australians who used do-it-yourself (DIY) pension funds to bet on cryptocurrencies face hundreds of millions of dollars in losses, jeopardising their savings in a scheme originally set up to ensure adequate retirement income. DIY pension funds account for a fourth of Australia's A$3.4 trillion ($2.29 trillion) pension pool. Australia's DIY pension sector combines size and freedom in a way that sets it apart from other countries. The United States also has a freewheeling DIY pension sector but take-up is negligible. "Our general position is if it's legal to invest in speculative assets, then no further restrictions should apply to SMSF investments."

☆ Australian regulator to review short-seller report on India's Adani
▼ + stars: | 2023-02-01 | by ( ) www.reuters.com time to read: +2 min

[1/2] The logo of the Adani Group is seen on the facade of its Corporate House on the outskirts of Ahmedabad, India, January 27, 2023. REUTERS/Amit DaveSYDNEY, Feb 1 (Reuters) - Australia's corporate regulator said on Wednesday it will review a short-seller report that has flagged a wide range of concerns about India's Adani Group. Bravus, an Australian Adani Group company, said in a statement that the group "refutes all allegations" made in the Hindenburg report about its Australian operations and that it has publicly provided evidence to back up its stance. Adani Group's Australian businesses all comply with the law, a spokesperson said, adding that none had been contacted by ASIC or the Australian Tax Office about Hindenburg Research's allegations. The Hindenburg report "presents transactions related to Adani's Australian businesses in a misleading way to purposefully undermine the reputation of the Adani Group, in order to pursue their own profit by short-selling shares in Adani Group companies," the statement said.

Search resuls for: "Australian Tax Office"

5 mentions found