News Corp and attitude to Australian taxation

It comes as no surprise that multinational media player News Corp Australia appears to believe it pays an adequate amount of corporate tax on its operations and carefully omits any mention of the group’s alleged tax avoidance measures in this country reportedly allowing it to repatriate $4.5 billion by making a "return of capital" to its New York parent over two years.

News Corp’s brief submission by invitation to the Senate Inquiry into tax avoidance and aggressive minimisation by corporations registered in Australia and multinational corporations operating in Australia stated:

Over the past five financial years, News Corp Australia, which employs close to 9,000 Australians, had an accounting profit before tax of $815.9m, and paid $417.3m in Australian taxes. During this same period, News Corp Australia paid an additional $900m in Australian goods and services, fringe benefit and payroll taxes.

At the same time it listed actual taxes paid (including withholding tax) in each year over those same five financial years:

* 2010 $113.9 million - effective tax rate of est. 23.1%

* 2011 $96.4 million

* 2012 $57.7 million

* 2013 $64.2 million - effective tax rate of 16.9%

* 2014 $85.1 million -  effective tax rate est. 23.9%-26.4%

TOTAL $417.3 million

So getting back to that $4.5 billion sent overseas…..

In 2013 News Corp Australia had an accounting profit before taxes of $627.4 million, paid $64.2 million in Australian taxes and sent est $3.2 billion in shares from its Australian operations back to its U.S.A. parent company.

In 2014 News Corp Australia had an accounting profit before taxes of $355.9 million, paid $85.1 million in Australian taxes and sent $1.3 billion in cash from its Australian operations back to its U.S.A. parent company.

Which looks suspiciously like the parent company received a $4.5 billion windfall with a tax rate of under 4 per cent applying to this “repatriation”.

The Sydney Morning Herald on 6 April 2015 reported:

According to calculations by University of NSW accounting academic, Jeffrey Knapp, over the past 10 years, Mr Murdoch's companies here have paid income tax equivalent to a rate of 4.8 per cent on $6.8 billion in operating cash flows, or just 10 per cent of operating profits. 

Note: In 2014 News Corp also received a court-ordered tax reimbursement for years between 2001-09 of $623.8 million (plus interest).