Population growth
There are 3,985 corporate entities in the 2022–23 corporate transparency population, with tax payable of $97.9 billion. Compared to 2021–22, this represents a net increase of 1,272 entities (46.9%) and an increase in tax payable of approximately $14 billion (16.7%).
A significant portion of the increase in the population (1,040 entities) is attributable to the lowering of the threshold for inclusion of Australian private entities from the 2022–23 income year. When comparing the 2022–23 population using the previous income thresholds, it shows steadier growth of 8.6% on the prior year.
The inclusion of Australian private entities with income between $100 million and
$200 million has contributed to an increase in the size of the tax transparency population. Yet this has had minimal impact overall on the total income, taxable income and tax payable. This is because corporate tax is highly concentrated in the largest entities.
Figure 1 shows the corporate transparency population growth over the last 5 years. The Australian private entities with income between $100 million and $200 million have been highlighted in the chart to show the effect on the population growth compared to prior years.
Figure 1: Corporate tax transparency population, growth over 5 years
Ownership
Foreign-owned entities accounted for 41.3% of the corporate transparency population in 2022–23. This is followed by:
- Australian public entities which accounted for 15.1%
- Australian private entities with income above $200 million which accounted for 17.5%
- Australian private entities with income between $100 million and $200 million which accounted for 26.1%.
Figure 2 shows the breakdown by ownership segment.
Figure 2: Corporate entities by ownership segment, 2022–23
Industry segment
Wholesale, Retail and Services (WRS) is the largest industry segment at 2,170 entities or 54.5% of the corporate tax transparency population. This is followed by:
- Manufacturing, Construction and Agriculture (MCA) at 971 or 24.4%
- Banking, Finance and Investment (BFI) at 420 or 10.5%
- Mining, Energy and Water (MEW) at 344 or 8.6%
- Insurance (ISR) at 80 or 2.0%.
Exits from the population
In 2022–23, 252 entities exited the population, 1,524 entities were new entrants, and 2,461 entities were part of last year's population.
Entities may exit the population because they:
- restructured or joined a tax consolidated group during the year (or both)
- reported income below the transparency thresholds
- had not yet lodged or had lodged a company tax return that wasn't processed by the cut-off date for the report (1 September 2024)
- weren't required to lodge a company tax return due to deregistration.
See Figure 3 below for the reasons for entities exiting the population this year.
We follow up entities that don't lodge returns as part of our non-lodgment program.
The number of entities that exited the transparency population due to a drop in income is consistent with a normal level of 'churn' in the population over recent years.
Entities that fail to lodge are subject to lodgment penalties and compliance action.
Figure 3: Exits from the corporate transparency population – entire population