CANBERRA: Chevron has decided to take its tax battles to the High Court of Australia after it was reported that the supermajor is in the crosshairs of the Australian Tax Office (ATO) for a disputed AU$1 billion outstanding tax bill. This comes after the Federal Court ruled in favor of the ATO in April in Australia’s biggest ever transfer pricing case. The court ordered Chevron to pay $340 million in taxes, penalties and interest arising from a 2003 interest loan of $1.84 billion paid by Chevron Australia to Chevron Corp. in the U.S. for part ownership of the North West Shelf gas project.
Chevron came out fighting, however, after it emerged this week that the ATO had slapped the supermajor with a $1 billion back tax bill as part of a $4 billion tax windfall being pursued against big international energy and tech corporations. Chevron’s latest dispute with the ATO relates to the rate of interest its Australian subsidiary pays servicing a $42 billion loan from Chevron in the U.S. to finance and build the Gorgon and Wheatstone LNG plants off Western Australia. The dispute with Chevron is believed to be the biggest single corporate tax issue currently being contested in Australia.
