PwC Australia tipped off Google about government tax plans, sources say

PwC has not publicly identified any client in relation to the scandal, which was sparked by Collins breaching confidentiality agreements signed with the government between 2013 and 2018.

Reuters could not establish if Google was a client of PwC Australia at the time, and if it used the information in any way.

While Google did not respond to Reuters’ questions about its relationship with PwC Australia, it confirmed to The Financial Times that it was the company involved.

“While it is disappointing to learn that PwC had inappropriately shared information, it had no bearing on our compliance with the Multinational Anti-Avoidance Law,” Google told the newspaper.

PwC Australia responded to a request for comment on this story and several questions about its relationship to Google by saying its clients “were not involved in any wrongdoing and no confidential information was used to enable clients to pay less tax”.

Collins could not be reached for comment.

First revealed by tax authorities in January, the scandal has forced out PwC Australia’s chief executive Tom Seymour, cost it at least five high-profile clients and triggered the sale of its lucrative government consulting business for $1.

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After receiving a 144-page cache of PwC emails released by the Tax Practitioners Board, politicians investigating the scandal asked PwC to list companies given confidential Australian Taxation Office information about the anti-avoidance law.

PwC sent a written response in June. What sources told Reuters matches information in the letter, which was publicly released with the name of the company that received the confidential information redacted.

Tax officials told parliament in May they foiled several attempts by unnamed multinational firms to subvert the multinational anti-avoidance law in early 2016, months after confidential information had leaked.

Reuters

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