On 23 June 2023, the Australian government declared that it has decided to delay the implementation of public country-by-country (CbC) reporting requirement to 1 July 2024 considering feedback from stakeholders.
The focus of stakeholder feedback in Australia was that the data labels being proposed were in addition to what is required under the EU approach and the existing OECD BEPS 13 Action – namely, listing and valuing of intangible assets, related party expenses and an effective tax rate calculation in line with the Pillar Two solution. Concerns focused on timing and confidentiality issues, noting these labels were a departure from the general multilateral consensus on Country-by-Country reporting. Some stakeholders noted these additional disclosures could detract from compliance with the Country-by-Country policy more broadly.
Corporate stakeholders noted the “standard” data labels required for disclosure (i.e., those already reported under existing tax transparency rules), although they had concerns that these would need to be disclosed globally, on a fully disaggregated basis. Stakeholders noted the EU, for example, only requires that level of disclosure for EU member states and certain EU defined non-cooperative jurisdictions.
To better align the Government’s proposed Country-by-Country reporting requirements with the commencement of the EU’s reporting directive, the Government will defer the application date by 12 months to 1 July 2024 and consult further on the appropriate level of disaggregated reporting.
