SYDNEY: Accounting firm KPMG says the tax arrangements of technology giants Google and Apple are legal under tax laws that need a global update, which is why the federal government should not introduce new taxes in the May budget.
KPMG executives, who denied the big four firm was involved in giving aggressive tax advice, told a parliamentary inquiry in Canberra on Thursday that a structures such as the “double Dutch Irish sandwich” were legal.
“What these companies are doing is legal,” said KPMG managing tax partner Rosheen Garnon.
She said the tax law was built on an old framework and different countries’ taxing rights needed to be modernised for the digital economy, which the Organisation for Economic Co-operation and Development is doing with a report due in September.
We need to stand back and look at what the OECD comes up with and see what the benefits are to Australia. It might pick up income from tech companies but we need to look at what impact it will have on other Australian companies,” she said.
The inquiry heard from Google, Apple and Microsoft on Wednesday. They conceded they were being audited by the Australian Taxation Office but insisted they were acting legally.
