PwC settled ‘false LPP’ penalties days before bid to suppress emails
The Tax Office signed a confidential settlement with PwC in March involving the firm’s false claims for legal professional privilege over 150 documents related to tax advice to a multinational client.
The deal, which halved the firm’s penalties for breaching legal privilege rules, was signed just before the Senate made public thousands of emails about PwC’s tax leaks scandal – a move that was opposed by the Tax Office.
Former partner Wayne Plummer told PwC partners in December that the firm had made an in-principle agreement with the Tax Office to settle on a no-admissions basis in return for a 50 per cent reduction in penalties that totalled several hundred thousand dollars.
Commissioner of Taxation Chris Jordan and Second Commissioner Jeremy Hirschhorn during a Senate estimates hearing.
PwC’s decision to settle came a month after the Tax Practitioners Board in November made findings that the firm used former partner Peter Collins’ information to market tax schemes to clients in 2016 and 2017.
The Tax Office did not disclose its deal with PwC, either to the TPB or to the Senate inquiry into consultants until late on Friday.
Days after signing the settlement deed in early March, the Tax Office tried to suppress the release of other unrelated internal PwC emails and documents that the TPB was preparing to release to the senate committee.
This led to the TPB restricting documents relating to the Collins tax leaks that were eventually supplied in response to a question on notice from Labor Senator Deborah O’Neill.
The PwC tax leaks came to light on May 2 after the TPB released to the Senate 114 pages of heavily redacted internal PwC emails that showed partners marketed schemes to get around the 2016 Multinational Anti
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