ATO says millions in annual tax could have been lost due to PwC confidentiality breaches

The Australian Tax Office says millions of dollars in annual tax revenue could have been lost if consulting firm PricewaterhouseCoopers had successfully rolled out a tax-avoidance scheme it designed using confidential government briefings. Key points: A former PwC partner briefed on government plans to thwart multinational tax avoidance shared details with colleagues PwC was marketing an avoidance scheme to overseas-based clients within weeks of the laws taking effect in 2016, the ATO says The scheme was scrapped, and the new laws resulted in about $100m in income tax and $80m in GST being taken in each year A former PwC partner was recently sanctioned by the Tax Practitioners Board for integrity breaches, after it was revealed he shared confidential briefings with colleagues. The ATO has told a Senate estimates hearing that when the new laws took effect in 2016, "within weeks" an avoidance scheme was being marketed to overseas-based clients of PwC to circumvent the new arrangements. Mr Jordan said he "can't say either way" if all the companies were clients of PwC but said "some were, some could've been prospective clients".