New ATO data reveals Australia’s biggest taxpayers

Australia’s biggest resources businesses paid $48 billion of company tax in 2024, the third year in a row the industry chipped in more to the national budget than all others combined.

Data released by the Australian Taxation Office on Thursday shows major companies paid almost $96b between them in the 2024 financial year.

That was the second-highest bill on record but slipped 2.3 per cent from the previous year.

While the mining tally — which also included energy and water — was eye-popping and made up half the total, it was down by $6 billion due to easing commodity prices.

Rio Tinto, BHP, Fortescue were the country’s top taxpayers for the year while big banks and supermarkets were also among the highest echelons.

The ATO publishes the figures through its tax transparency report, which targets more than 4000 businesses with annual revenue above $100 million.

ATO assistant commissioner Michelle Sams said the data showed “high levels of compliance amongst our largest corporates”.

“Australia has some of the highest levels of tax compliance of large business in the world with 94.1 per cent of tax paid voluntarily, and 96.3 per cent after ATO’s compliance actions,” she said.

It comes after months of talk about sharpening up the national tax system to make Australia more competitive sparked by Treasurer Jim Chalmers’s economic reform summit.

The Productivity Commission urged the Government to slash taxes for businesses with revenue of less than $1b to a rate of 20 per cent — and also introduce a new levy on cash flow.

That would encourage investment by businesses and help drive wages higher over the long term. It would also mean corporates earning so-called super profits would likely pay more over time.

Thursday’s numbers will also add to scrutiny on those businesses which don’t pay any tax and shine the spotlight on high-profile industries such as technology and oil and gas.

About 28 per cent of large businesses did not pay tax — which the ATO said was the lowest proportion since public reporting started 11 years ago.

The vast majority of those companies paying nothing were either losing money or deducting losses from previous years.

Virgin Airlines paid no tax thanks to offsetting losses from previous years, including the COVID-19 pandemic.

Tech business Google stumped up $132m, while Amazon shelled out about $160m across four divisions. But the sector has attracted criticism because most revenue flows to offshore business units and remains untaxed locally.

Canada’s Government launched a digital services tax of 3 per cent on tech company revenue in 2020 to crackdown on the practice but later pulled the plans.

Also in the firing line for tax compliance in recent years is the oil and gas sector which paid about $10.4b.

But Petroleum Resources Rent Tax collections tallied just $1.5b — which will incite fresh debate about the effectiveness of the so-called super profit tax.

The Federal Government rejigged the petroleum tax’s rules in 2024 promising the changes would bring in about $2.4b over four years.

Yet the PRRT take declined because of a lower oil price and decommissioning costs.