Australia: Increase in Administrative Tax Penalties

The Australian government proposed an increase in administrative tax penalties for Australian entities that are members of groups with annual global income of AUD$1 billion or more will be significantly increased starting July 1, 2017. For example, for an Australian entity failing to lodge a corporate income tax return, the maximum penalty would increase from AUD$5,000 to $450,000.

Though the current proposals are limited to larger economic groups, the measures reflect a trend in many countries – namely, that there have been greater and more intrusive revenue authority enquiries into multinational groups, with sanctions for taxpayers that do not meet their domestic tax compliance obligations.