Kelly O'Dwyer (Higgins, Liberal Party, Minister for Revenue and Financial Services) Share this | Hansard source

I very much thank the member for his question. As he is very well aware, the new tax treaty with Germany, which he supports, incorporates integrity provisions as part of the G20/OECD base erosion and profit shifting project. It assists in our continued efforts to ensure that multinational companies and high-wealth individuals pay the tax that they ought to be paying in this country. The treaty measures are intended to minimise the opportunities for non-taxation or reduced taxation through tax avoidance, including treaty-shopping arrangements. Treaty benefits will be denied if a person's principal purpose is to take advantage of the treaty to avoid paying tax. The new treaty authorises the Australian Taxation Office, our revenue authorities and Germany's revenue authorities to exchange taxpayer information on all taxes imposed by either country. It enables mutual assistance in the collection of outstanding tax debts. It is very important that we were able to implement this change in the law—

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