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About the Corporate tax transparency report 2022–23

Analysis and highlights of the ATO Corporate tax transparency report 2022–23.

Published 1 November 2024

Corporate tax transparency population

This year's Corporate tax transparency report analyses aggregated data from the 2022–23 income tax returns of some of the largest corporations operating in Australia. It describes changes and trends in key headline figures for the population, as well as data by industry segment and ownership group.

The Corporate tax transparency population includes:

  • any corporate tax entity with a total income equal to or exceeding $100 million
  • entities that have petroleum resource rent tax (PRRT) payable.

Following a change in the tax law in 2022, this is the first year that data on Australian-owned private companies with total income between $100 million and $200 million is being published. This change will affect certain year-on-year analysis that is included in this report.

Note: For income years up to 2021–22, the total income threshold for Australian-owned private companies was $200 million or more.

Legislation specifies the type of information we are required to report on. In producing this report – for corporations that meet the population income threshold – we take the data from 3 labels in the tax return:

  • total income
  • taxable income
  • tax payable.

Note: Data in the Corporate tax transparency report is taken directly from tax returns at a certain point in time and does not reflect any intervention or compliance work after lodgment of the returns (including settlement outcomes).

Corporations can also publish their own reports about their tax positions through the Voluntary Tax Transparency Code.

Highlights for 2022–23

  • There are 3,985 entities in this year's population, representing a net increase of 1,272 entities (46.9%) from 2021–22 and 1,040 entities are attributable to the lower total income threshold applying for Australian private entities from the 2022–23 income year.
  • Total income for 2022–23 was $3,138.4 billion, an increase of 23.3%.
  • Taxable income was $ 380.1 billion, an increase of 11.3%.
  • Tax payable was $97.9 billion, an increase of 16.7%.
  • Foreign-owned entities accounted for 41.3% of this year's corporate transparency population and 41.5% of tax payable.
  • Australian public entities accounted for 15.1% of this year's corporate transparency population and 47.9% of tax payable.
  • Australian private entities accounted for 43.6% of this year's corporate transparency population and nearly 10.6% of tax payable.
  • Australian private entities with income between $100 million and $200 million accounted for 26.1% of the total corporate transparency population, 4.6% (or $142.9 billion) of total income, 2.4% (or $9.2 billion) of taxable income and 2.5% (or $2.5 billion) of the total tax payable.
  • Entities with income of more than $5 billion represented 2.2% of the corporate transparency population and accounted for 61.6% of tax payable ($60.4 billion).
  • Entities with income of between $250 million and $5 billion represented 42.1% of the corporate transparency population and accounted for 31.7% of the tax payable ($31.1 billion).
  • Medium entities – those with income of less than $250 million – represented the largest portion (55.7%) of the corporate transparency population and accounted for only 6.6% of the tax payable ($6.5 billion). The increase in the number of medium entities in this year's corporate transparency population is due to the lowering of the total income threshold for Australian private entities.
  • Tax payable in the corporate transparency population was again dominated by the Mining, Energy and Water segment at 55.9% ($54.7 billion) of the total. This year the Mining, Energy and Water segment increased by $12.5 billion (29.5%) on last year.
  • Approximately 31% of entities paid nil tax (14% incurred an accounting loss, 7% incurred a tax loss, 2% utilised offsets, 8% utilised tax losses from prior year).
  • PRRT payable decreased 6.5% from $1,996.6 million last year to $1,867.1 million this year.

Interpreting the results

Many large corporate groups consist of smaller entities whose aggregated total income meets the transparency population income thresholds. If these entities are not consolidated for tax purposes, some or all of the entities may not individually meet the income thresholds for inclusion in the report.

The complexity and diversity of large corporate groups mean that the corporation's income may be distributed and returned by multiple entities within an economic group. This can change the nil tax paid percentages when the entire group is taken into consideration. For a detailed explanation, see Net losses and nil tax payable.

It is important to note that the total figures in this report cannot reflect the:

  • complexity of the tax system
  • relationships between entities
  • calculations behind the numbers
  • extent and nature of any ATO activity.

Corporate tax transparency reports are our analysis of the aggregate annual tax return data published in the annual Report of entity tax informationExternal Link. Some names listed in the Report of entity tax information may be recognisable to the public and connections to high-profile individuals may be the subject of public knowledge. Due to secrecy provisions in the tax law we are only able to publish certain data in respect of each eligible entity. Secrecy provisions prevent us from disclosing any additional information about specific entities beyond the 3 data points provided for in the legislation.

Tax information is protected by privacy legislation, limiting what we can cover in this report. The report does not include operating profits, tax losses or tax offsets, which can help to provide a more complete understanding of a corporate's tax position.

The data does not reflect any audit or compliance work. The report is based on information contained in an entity's tax return at a point in time. The tax return may later be amended, and the amount published in this report may no longer reflect the amount of tax actually paid. However, when we lock in go-forward outcomes as part of settlements these will be reflected in the future tax returns lodged and the outcomes reflected in future reports.

Figures in this report have generally been rounded, which may result in differences between totals and sums of components in the charts and text.

Note: the 2021–22 report was corrected post its publication in November 2023. The figures for 2 entities were revised. The report on data.gov.au has been updated, however the figures and data throughout the 2021–22 report on our website has not.

 

 

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