PwC approved retirement payments for Peter Collins despite TPB leaks finding

afr.com:

PwC Australia gave former partner Peter Collins a one-off “termination payment” and initially approved ongoing retirement payments for him late last year, despite the Tax Practitioners Board finding he had shared secret government information.

Peter Collins, former head of international tax for PwC Australia. 

The firm made the one-off payment, worth eight months of his unspecified target 2023 income, but stripped him of the ongoing retirement payments in June amid the growing scandal around the tax leaks matter.

The revelation is among a host of new details about the firm’s ongoing tax leaks saga published on Tuesday in response to questions on notice from Greens senator Barbara Pocock as part of the ongoing Senate inquiry into consulting.

The response also shows the firm’s troubled tax division continues to earn hundreds of millions in revenue every year and that negotiations are ongoing with former chief executive Tom Seymour and five partners directed to go on leave on May 29 about whether they will receive their ongoing retirement payments.

Eligible former PwC partners are paid on average $140,000 per year, but this amount can be reduced if profits fall under a certain level.

PwC also published the March 2021 review of the firm’s tax operation by former ATO Second Commissioner Bruce Quigley in its response.

The review, revealed publicly for the first time, credited the ATO’s action against PwC as “forcing” the firm’s tax partners to tone down their previous aggressive approach to advice.

“The firm has been undergoing an overwhelming cultural shift since at least 2016,” Mr Quigley found. “Partners do not want to be seen as not complying with the various [risk and quality] policies and protocols – not only because it