When to apply for a Public CBC reporting exemption
The purpose of Public CBC reporting is to enhance tax transparency, but a Public CBC reporting parent may apply for an exemption. The Commissioner has the discretion, for a single reporting period, to grant a Public CBC reporting parent entity either a:
- full exemption from its reporting obligations, or
- partial exemption, specifying that it is exempt from publishing information of a particular kind.
Practice Statement Law Administration PS LA 2025/2 Public country-by-country reporting exemptions provides guidance to ATO staff about exercising the Commissioner’s discretion to grant an exemption from Public CBC reporting obligations on a case-by-case basis. This includes guidance on how we will administer an application for an exemption and examples of information we expect to be provided to us in support of an exemption application.
If you believe you qualify for an exemption for a reporting period, you must apply for the exemption in a timely manner to allow sufficient time for the Commissioner to consider and decide the application before the Public CBC report publishing due date. An exemption only applies to the reporting period for which it is granted.
How to apply for a Public CBC reporting exemption
To apply for a full or partial exemption download the Public country-by-country reporting exemption application form (DOCX, 130KB)This link will download a file.
To submit your application, email the completed form along with all attachments to PublicCBCExemption@ato.gov.au.
You should apply for an exemption as early as possible, as this will help facilitate a smoother and more efficient exemption assessment process.
Submitting your exemption request
To submit your Public CBC reporting exemption request, you must:
- specify the information and jurisdiction for which an exemption is sought
- explain the reasons that apply
- provide relevant supporting information and documentation, and
- confirm authorisation to submit the request and engage with us on behalf of the applicant.
Where your request doesn't provide sufficient information or documentation, we will request this from you and discuss any concerns with you.
To help us to consider your application, we suggest you include the following:
- if requesting a full exemption, the reasons why a partial exemption would not be sufficient
- having regard to Law Administration Practice Statement PS LA 2025/2, explain what is unusual or exceptional about your circumstances to justify an exemption
- in respect of each of the specific disclosure or disclosures for which an exemption is requested, detail any link between those disclosures and any harm or adverse consequences that might be caused by public disclosure
- explain why the delay in publication of information (from when the reporting period ends until it is uploaded onto data.gov.au) under Public CBC reporting doesn't sufficiently reduce the potential harm or consequences that might be caused by public disclosure
- where aggregation of the information is available, explain why aggregation of that information doesn't sufficiently reduce the harm or consequence of disclosure, and
- why the information for which the exemption is requested is not and isn't expected to become publicly available in full or part through other reporting obligations or channels.
We will engage with you before reaching a decision regarding your exemption application.
You will only be exempt from publishing a partial or full Public CBC report once we have assessed your application and notified you in writing of our decision for that reporting period.
National security matters
A relevant factor for a favourable consideration of an exemption request is where disclosure of specific information in a Public CBC report may impact national security. We acknowledge that considerations relating to national security matters may encompass areas of specialised knowledge or expertise including security, defence, international relations and law enforcement interests of both Australia and other nations.
To ensure that appropriate privacy arrangements are in place, we encourage you to email PublicCBCExemption@ato.gov.au before lodging an application relating to national security matters.
More broadly, we are considering circumstances where information disclosed in a Public CBC report may be likely to generally impact Australia’s national security. This is for the purpose of determining whether disclosing such information publicly would be inappropriate for a class of entities that engage in similar or alike activities.