Australia's public CbC reporting rules apply for reporting periods starting on or after 1 July 2024, and entities must submit their CbC reports within 12 months after the end of the relevant period.
The Australian Taxation Office (ATO) has published a draft guidance on how to complete the public Country-by-Country (CbC) report on 31 October 2025.
The public CbC reporting rules apply for reporting periods starting on or after 1 July 2024, and entities must submit their CbC reports within 12 months after the end of the relevant period. The draft guidance sets out instructions and clarifications to help entities meet these requirements.
Instructions summary
These instructions will help taxpayers complete their Public CBC report if they are a CBC reporting parent, “reporting entity” who must publish a report for reporting periods from 1 July 2024 under the Public CBC reporting regime.
The form must be completed in English, using the provided XML Schema. These instructions should be used alongside the XML Schema, Message Structure Table, and Business Implementation Guide that can be found at the Public Country-by-Country reporting 2025 specification v1.0.
A Public CBC report consists of 4 sections:
- Section A – include details of the type of report and the reporting entity.
- Section B – identify each member entity (“member”) of the CBC reporting group by its jurisdiction of residence. The “Statement on approach to tax” of the CBC reporting group is also included in this section.
- Section C – include the information to be published on a CBC basis for Australia and each specified jurisdiction. Further information on jurisdictional reporting that has been determined by the Minister is available. You may also choose to report on a CBC basis for non-specified jurisdictions.
- Section D – include the aggregated information to be reported for members of the CBC reporting group not included in Section C.
Section A: Public CBC report – entity information
How to complete section A: entity information in the Public CBC report.
Reporting party information
Statement information
This question is mandatory.
This defines the type of report that is being submitted, either original or amended. A valid value is “True” or “False”.
If selected “True”, the report contains amended data
If selected “False”, the message contains original data only.
Section B: Public CBC report – member entities and approach to tax
How to complete section B: member entities and approach to tax in the Public CBC report.
Member entities of the global parent entity group
This section is to identify each of the members of the CBC reporting group, including the reporting entity, as well as the approach to tax.
The Public CBC reporting regime allows a partial exemption. “Partial exemption” refers to a release from some of your reporting obligations for a single reporting period, for example, one or more but not all of the pieces of information that are otherwise required to be published, or all information, but for only particular jurisdiction or jurisdictions.
If you have a partial exemption for a particular piece of information, answer the question asking about the exemption by entering “True”, and do not complete the field below.
Are you exempt from publishing the members of your CBC reporting group?
This question is mandatory.
This indicates whether you are exempt from publishing the members of your CBC reporting group. A valid value is “True” or “False”.
If selected “True”, proceed to the question titled Public CBC statement on approach to tax as a reporting entity exempt from supplying the names of the members of the CBC reporting group doesn’t need to provide details of the members’ names.
If you selected ‘’False”, continue to the next question to provide the names of the members of the CBC reporting group.
Section C: Public CBC report – Australia and specified jurisdictions
How to complete section C: Australia and specified jurisdictions in the Public CBC report.
Australia and specified jurisdictions
This section seeks information about Australian and specified jurisdictions as outlined in Taxation Administration (Country by Country Reporting Jurisdictions) Determination 2024, of the CBC reporting group for which you are submitting a Public CBC report.
You must provide the information for Australia and each specified jurisdiction in the relevant reporting period. A jurisdiction is either a state or a non-state jurisdiction in which a member of the group has operations. Where the activities of several members are within a single jurisdiction, the information for that jurisdiction must be consolidated. The jurisdictional data should represent the combined operations that those members have in that jurisdiction.
Where the CBC reporting group members operate in Australian and specified jurisdictions, information must be broken down by jurisdiction. For other jurisdictions, you have 2 options for disclosure:
- Full CBC breakdown: You may choose to report information on a CBC basis for all jurisdictions that the CBC reporting group operates. If there are no stateless entities, you do not need to report any aggregated data in section D.
- Partial CBC breakdown: If you only publish information on a CBC basis for Australian and specified jurisdictions, you must publish information for all other jurisdictions that the CBC reporting group operates, on an aggregated basis in section D.
In any case, information for entities not resident in any jurisdiction including stateless entities, should be included in the aggregated data in section D.
Section D: Public CBC report- rest of the world (aggregated information)
How to complete section D: rest of the world (aggregated information) in the Public CBC report.
Rest of world, aggregated Information
This section seeks aggregated information regarding the jurisdictions in which the CBC reporting group operates that have not been disclosed individually in section C.
If the reporting entity chooses to disclose information on a CBC basis for all jurisdictions in which the CBC reporting group operates, no aggregated information disclosure is required. However, if you report on a CBC basis only for Australian and specified jurisdictions, then you must publish aggregated information for all other jurisdictions.
Information relating to a CBC reporting group entity that is not considered tax resident in any jurisdiction should also be included in the aggregated reporting in this section.
Public CBC rest of the world aggregated information report
Partial exemption provisions: The Public CBC reporting regime allows a partial exemption in certain circumstances from the aggregated information report. If you have a partial exemption from publishing some of your reporting obligations for a reporting period, do not include the exempt information in your aggregated information.
This may include:
- excluding one or more required information, or
- omitting reporting for specific jurisdictions.
Where you do not have an exemption from publishing the information in a particular reporting field, you must complete that field.
Section E: Submitting your Public CBC report
How to complete section E: submitting your Public CBC report.
Submitting your Public CBC report
Your Public CBC report must be submitted electronically as a valid XML file generated by your business management software.
If you are using a digital service provider software, contact them to confirm whether it has functionality for submitting the Public CBC report to us in the approved form.
Section F: Correcting your Public CBC report
How to make amendments to your Public CBC report.
Amendments
Material errors must be corrected within 28 days of the reporting entity becoming aware of the error.
To amend your Public CBC report, complete the approved form again with the corrected information and submit it using the same Public CBC reporting submission process. The new report will replace the original report submitted. All fields must be completed in the amended Public CBC report, including fields that have not been changed.
If you have any questions regarding amendments to your Public CBC report, contact your digital service provider in the first instance. These providers have developed their software in alignment with the ATO XML Schema specifications and are best positioned to assist with the technical aspect behind the approved form.
You can also contact the ATO for assistance at PublicCBC@ato.gov.au.
