PwC paid for tax officer’s Paris trip
PwC paid for senior tax officer Jeremy Hirschhorn to fly to Paris to address the big four firm’s two-day global tax conference for clients and partners – at the height of the tax leaks scandal.
Second Commissioner Hirschhorn delivered a 12,000 word address at the PwC global tax symposium at the Westin Paris – Vendôme, near the Louvre, in November 2019, an event that followed weeks of tense exchanges with senior PwC leaders.
Second Commissioner Jeremy Hirschhorn. The ATO said the Paris trip was “an ideal opportunity to speak [about Australia’s tax system] directly to international partners of PwC Global and their leading multinational clients”.
Mr Hirschhorn is the leading candidate to replace Chris Jordan when he steps down as Commissioner of Taxation early next year.
A month before the Paris trip, PwC tax leaders had discussed a follow-up meeting with Mr Hirschhorn to address his concerns about false legal professional privilege claims, tax promoter penalties and the leak of confidential Treasury information.
Successive timelines produced by the Tax Office and PwC have not shed light on how relations between the two organisations improved to the point where the Paris trip, including two nights accommodation, could be contemplated and arranged.
An ATO spokeswoman said the Paris trip was disclosed in October 2019 and was “an ideal opportunity to speak [about Australia’s tax system] directly to international partners of PwC Global and their leading multinational clients”.
She said the publicly disclosed trip was “in line with ATO gifts, hospitality or other benefits policy” and that PwC had reduced the cost to the taxpayer.
The four-star Westin Paris – Vendome.
A new timeline released by PwC last week outlines an intense
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