Australia: Australian Taxation Office (ATO) issues Practice Statement setting out administrative approach in exercising discretion to grant exemptions from Australian Public Country-by-Country (CBC) Reporting obligations

Public CBC reporting is a transparency regime requiring certain large multinational groups to publicly disclose selected tax and financial information for Australia, specified jurisdictions, and aggregated global operations. This is a separate and different obligation from the master and local files which significant global entity or CBC reporting groups have already been submitting to the ATO. Public CBC obligations apply for reporting periods beginning on or after 1 July 2024, with the first batch of reports to be submitted by 30 June 2026, unless an exemption is granted. 

Under subsections 3DB(5) and (6) of the Taxation Administration Act 1953, the Commissioner of Taxation may grant either a full exemption—relieving an entity from all publishing obligations for the period—or a partial exemption, covering specific data elements or jurisdictions. The ATO has issued its Practice Statement PS LA 2025/2 on 5 December 2025, setting out the Commissioner’s administrative approach to granting exemptions from these public CBC obligations in exceptional circumstances where there are legitimate security, legality and confidentiality concerns, including risks to national security, breaches of Australian or foreign law, and the potential disclosure of commercially sensitive information that could result in substantial harm. 

Companies can consider adopting some practical strategies to assess whether they can effectively utilise the exemption framework. First, they should conduct a detailed sensitivity and risk assessment of all information likely to be disclosed, highlighting any risks that could cause significant or irreversible harm; the ATO emphasises that even low-probability risks warrant consideration (per paragraph 39 of PS LA 2025/2). Second, multinationals should evaluate whether their inclusion in the Australian regime is driven solely by foreign currency fluctuations or threshold misalignment when compared to other jurisdictions—factors the ATO may consider favourably when assessing exemption requests. Finally, companies should prepare robust supporting evidence, including financial and legal documentation, and engage early with tax and legal expert teams to ensure clarity, completeness, and timely filing. Exemption applications must be made in writing and supported by detailed justification, as outlined in PS LA 2025/2’s evidentiary guidance, so it is important that companies act quickly.

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Reference/Citation
ATO websites:

Public country-by-country (CBC) reporting | Australian Taxation Office

Legislation and Ruling

Taxation Administration Act 1953 (Cth)

PS LA 2025/2 Public country-by-country reporting exemptions

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