Former PWC partner banned after leaking confidential government tax plans

A former PWC partner was banned by the Tax Practitioners Board (TPB) after he was found to have leaked confidential government tax plans, including new rules to stop multinationals avoiding tax, to other staff and partners at the firm.

The TPB said Peter-John Collins, a former tax partner at PricewaterhouseCoopers (PwC), has been deregistered as a tax agent for integrity breaches. This includes a two-year ban on becoming a registered tax practitioner.

The Australian Financial Review reported that Collins was a regular member of consultation groups set up by the Treasury and by the Board of Taxation to provide confidential advice to the government on matters that included its measures to combat international tax avoidance.

Collins, who was named tax adviser of the year by the Tax Institute of Australia in 2016, left PWC in October last year.

The TPB said its investigation revealed that Collins, while participating in confidential consultation with Treasury to improve tax laws, made unauthorised disclosures of this confidential law reform information to partners and staff of PwC.

“This included new rules to stop multinationals avoiding tax by shifting profits from Australia to tax and secrecy havens,” it said.

“Some of the confidential information was disclosed by Mr Collins with other PwC personnel who, in turn, disclosed to clients or potential clients of PwC,” it said.

The TPB found Mr Collins failed to act with integrity, and terminated his tax agent registration.

“We are very concerned when tax practitioners abuse their positions of trust, or fail to act with integrity,” TPB Chair, Ian Klug, said.