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 "These companies are diverting profits earned in Australia away
from Australia to no-tax or low-tax jurisdictions," Treasurer Joe
Hockey told reporters in Canberra.
He declined to identify the targets, but said "it's pretty evident
which companies are involved". Google Inc, Apple Inc and Microsoft
Corp revealed earlier this year they were under review by the
Australian Tax Office.
The Australian subsidiaries of these global tech titans have all
denied any tax evasion.
Australia and Britain are leading steps by countries to tackle large
companies over base erosion and profit shifting methods of avoiding
tax ahead of coordinated international efforts by the OECD through
the Group of 20 leading economies (G20).
 Hockey did not detail the content of the proposed new laws, but said
they would not contain a profits diversion tax like the "Google tax"
introduced by Britain on April 1.
He also declined to say how much money Australia expected to raise
through the new laws, which will come into force on Jan. 1 if they
pass parliament. More details will be provided in the federal budget
due for release on Tuesday.
Companies could be fined up to 100 percent of the amount of tax
deemed to be avoided, he added. 'NETFLIX' TAX
Hockey also unveiled a plan to extend the country's existing goods
and services tax (GST) to cover digital products purchased from
overseas suppliers.
The so-called "Netflix Tax" would level the playing field between
Australian and overseas companies and raise around A$350 million
over four years, he said.
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"When the GST legislation was originally drafted, it did not
anticipate the massive growth in the supply of digital goods like
movie downloads, games and e-books from overseas," he said.
Hockey said the proposed multinational tax legislation was the first
in the world and had attracted considerable interest at a G20
meeting in Washington last month.
"There was a lot of interest from other finance ministers who would
... perhaps take it to their own countries as well, including
China," he said.
One country watching more warily than most may be the United States,
which originally backed the G20 crackdown but has since become
concerned about Britain, Australia and other nations lining up
against U.S. digital companies as they seek extra revenues to trim
budget deficits.
(Editing by Eric Meijer & Shri Navaratnam)
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