Apple, Google to Face Crackdown on Taxes

Tech giants may be forced to fess up and pay full taxes to the federal government. The latter is developing a plan to require global sites like Google and Apple to own up to their responsibilities and pay full axes.

The plan would also allow the federal government to publish details on the taxes that mining firms are paying. The government has not revealed the money generated from mining taxes because of confidential reasons.

Governments, however, are trying to force websites to pay full taxes instead of using tax havens. These include websites operating in Australia.

In 2011, search engine giant Google only paid $74,176 worth of taxes in Australia.

Reports also indicate that Labor intends to pass legislation requiring large companies to disclose and publish detail information on the taxes they pay. Treasury also appears to be discussing on how to implement this.

Assistant Treasury David Bradbury said large companies use complicated and complex arrangements to avoid paying full taxes. He added that these multinational companies should not have the room to hide behind confidentiality.

Last year, Bradbury named Google as one of the tech firms that use the “Double Irish Dutch Sandwich,” a term used for diverting incomes via low-tax countries like the Netherlands and Ireland.