[AusNOG] Does Malcolm hate us already?

[Skeeve Stevens]

So.. I woke feeling all excited about the day, then read this news in which
I wanted to cry.  Can't they give him a portfolio due with skill and
experience... like Assistant Secretary for Regional Cow Dung Subsidies?


>From todays (20150917) Commsday <https://www.commsday.com/>:

*Hockey enters mix for comms portfolio, introduces telco-relevant tax
measures*

Federal treasurer Joe Hockey has introduced new tax measures targeting
multinationals that could help level the playing field between global cloud
providers and their Australian counterparts. Hockey introduced the “tax
integrity package” at the same time as rumours began to surface that he
could potentially be the next communications minister.

The ABC's Barrie Cassidy reported that Hockey had been offered a chance to
remain in Cabinet and take up the communications portfolio, with Scott
Morrison widely tipped to become the new treasurer. At a media conference
to discuss the new tax legislation, Hockey would only say that he'd had
discussions with new prime minister Malcolm Turnbull but would not be drawn
on his future role.

The legislation Hockey has now put before Parliament introduces a
multinational tax avoidance package to ensure major international companies
operating in Australia, but booking profits offshore, have to pay tax
in-country.

The measures will likely please Australian telcos competing against global
cloud companies such as Amazon Web Services, Microsoft and others. At
CommsDay's Wholesale and Datacentre Summit in July, Macquarie Telecom CEO
David Tudehope said the tax issue was “one of the big sleepers” in the
industry.

“Nobody wants to pay any more tax than they have to, [but] there is a world
of difference between what we do and what a number of competitors who are
entering the cloud market do, where quite simply they make artificial
arrangements... to pay absolutely no tax at all here in Australia,”
Tudehope said at the time.

Under a beefed up ‘Multinational Tax Avoidance Package’, Hockey announced
that the legislation would target all multinationals operating in Australia
with global revenues above A$1 billion. An estimated 1,000 companies will
need to consider the new rules if they have economic activities in
Australia but book their Australian sales revenue offshore.

“This is part of the government’s broader commitment to tax integrity, and
further legislation in this area will be introduced imminently,” Hockey
said. “Our tax integrity package includes ensuring the GST applies to all
digital products and services, along with lowering the GST Low Value
Threshold to zero.”

The legislation also implements the OECD’s country-by-country reporting
regime and new transfer pricing documentation standards, which the
treasurer said gave the Australian Tax Office a better picture of how
multinationals companies operate internally.

“This package of measures has been developed through an extensive feedback
and consultation process undertaken by Treasury – along with the result of
having Tax Office officials working within key multinationals operating in
Australia,” he said. “The Tax Office now has additional detailed
information of how many of these companies structure their tax affairs to
avoid paying their fair share.”

The makeup of the new Cabinet and any portfolio changes is not expected to
be announced before the weekend or early next week.

- Geoff Long


...Skeeve


--

Skeeve Stevens - The ISP Guy - Internet Provider SME

Email: skeeve at theispguy.com ; Cell: +61(0)414 753 383
Skype: skeeve; Blog: TheISPGuy.com <http://theispguy.com/> ; Facebook:
TheISPGuy <https://www.facebook.com/theispguy>

Linkedin: /in/skeeve <http://www.linkedin.com/in/skeeve> ; Expert360:
Profile <https://expert360.com/profile/d54a9>
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