No Australian tax revenue lost in PwC leaks scandal: lawyers
Legal inquiries into PwC Australia’s tax leaks scandal have concluded that it did not lead to a “reduction in tax revenues for Australia”.
The summary of reviews by law firms King & Wood Mallesons, Allens and Linklaters, published by PwC on Wednesday, concluded that there was no evidence that tax structures proposed by the firm in relation to the then-new Multinational Anti Avoidance Laws “were created using confidential information”.
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“It has been inaccurately suggested that breaches of confidentiality by PwC
Australia led to a reduction in tax revenues for Australia,” a summary of the legal findings stated.
“First, PwC Australia has not identified evidence that the structuring proposals described… were created using confidential information. They were created after the MAAL exposure draft legislation was released publicly in May 2015, and appear to be based on that draft legislation.
“Second, to the extent that PwC Australia prepared structures to which the ATO objected were pursued by companies, those companies ultimately revised those structures to ones acceptable to the ATO.”
The firm’s summary of the legal inquiries was released along with former Telstra chief executive Ziggy Switkowski’s investigation that found widespread governance and cultural problems at PwC.
The tax leaks scandal relates to former international tax partner Peter Collins sharing confidential tax information with PwC personnel who used it to help clients sidestep avoidance laws he was helping Treasury develop.
The scandal has led to the effective takeover of PwC’s Australian operation by PwC global and increased scrutiny of the multibillion-dollar consulting sector.
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