US tech giants Uber and Facebook set up new company structures to sidestep Australia’s multinational tax avoidance law using PwC advice, days before the legislation came into effect in January 2016.
Uber transferred its Australian business to three general partnerships registered in the Netherlands, in a structure devised by its then tax adviser PwC to bypass the new law.
“Uber received advice from PwC Australia on how to comply with its obligations under the Multinational Anti-Avoidance Law after the draft legislation was released,” an Uber spokesman told“We had no knowledge the advice from PwC may have been based on information that was improperly obtained.” The structures are revealed in filings with the Australian Securities and Investments Commission, which also show the companies dumped the schemes, as part of negotiated confidential settlements with the Tax Office.
A taxpayer alert was issued on September 15 in connection with this new scheme, which involved a foreign multinational directing its Australian business through an offshore partnership, in which an Australian entity was a minor partner. While these Dutch partnerships conducted Uber’s Australian business, Uber could say it had an Australian presence and thus was not caught by MAAL, even though Uber Pacific Holdings Pty Ltd had no control and minimal earnings.
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