In figures released to the Australian Securities and Investments Commission, the US search giant revealed that it received nearly $5 million in R&D offsets from the Federal Government taking Google’s effective corporate tax rate to about 20 percent in Australia.
The data comes as Joe Hockey appears set to launch a “Google” tax that would target billions in revenue gained by technology giants from Australian customers but booked in low-taxing offshore jurisdictions such as Ireland and Singapore.
A Senate inquiry into corporate tax avoidance is examining the issue, with representatives of Google, Apple and Microsoft having recently been hauled over the coals over corporate tax arrangements.
“We paid $11.7 million in corporate taxes for 2014 and $19.7 million in payroll and other taxes in Australia,” Google said at the weekend. “We’ve invested nearly $1 billion in Australia over the last three years, employing a local workforce of 1200 people.
“Further, we believe everyone would benefit from a simpler and more transparent international tax system and that is why we support global co-ordination in forums such as the OECD.”
The $11.7 million bill is a $4.6 million increase on last year’s tax of $7.1 million, also a 20 percent tax rate, but revenues for Google in Australia have increased by almost $80 million in that time, from $358 million to $438.7 million.
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