澳大利亚指出两种跨国公司转移利润的操作手法

近日，澳大利亚税务局（ATO）发布了两个新的纳税人通知，提醒跨国公司不要采取手段转移利润。

2016年第11号纳税人通知中，ATO提到跨国公司试图利用一种新手段来对抗《跨国公司反避税法》（MAAL: Multinational Anti-Avoidance Law）。那些受到《跨国公司反避税法》约束的跨国集团通过在澳洲经营但把收入记在外国公司账上来规避在澳洲形成应税场所（taxable presence）。

ATO称，在这一手段下，外国公司和澳大利亚消费者之间被安插进一个澳大利亚合伙制企业。据称，因为这一合伙企业在税收层面实质是“澳大利亚本土企业”，所以《跨国公司反避税法》在此情况下并不适用，但是此合伙企业的利润绝大部分卻被分配给了外国企业而达到避税目的。据ATO消息，跨国公司和澳大利亚消费者之间的其他所有商业往来都与之前保持不变，唯一不同的就是其间设立了以避税为目的的合伙制企业。

ATO称，跨国公司为了对抗《跨国公司反避税法》，选择钻法规空子人为安插合伙制企业，而不是对于“澳洲应税场所”加以认定及接受，这一点十分令人担忧。

自《跨国公司反避税法》2016年1月1日生效以来，ATO已经联系了175家企业，要求他们依法办事，并对其中的高风险问题加以识别。ATO如今正在审查这些企业的涉税事项，来判断这些公司是否遵从《跨国公司反避税法》，以及（或）是否妥善执行重组事宜。

第二条纳税人通知（2016年第10号）则反映了ATO对于跨国公司跨国循环贷款（round-robin financing）操作的关注。ATO称，澳大利亚本地的公司往往以为从外国关联企业获得的贷款所付利息可以从所得税申报中税前扣除，而此澳大利亚本地企业的外国关联企业的贷款实际上正是由该澳大利亚企业提供的，贷款回到澳大利亚企业的时候也会再投向国外关联企业。澳大利亚企业就此申报所得税抵扣，但通过“循环”投资获取的收入只会负担很少的税款，或是根本不用交税。

The Australian Taxation Office (ATO) has published two new taxpayer alerts that warn against international profit shifting by multinational companies.

Taxpayer Alert 2016/11 concerns a new scheme that the ATO said attempts to avoid the Multinational Anti-Avoidance Law (MAAL). The MAAL applies to multinational groups that avoid a taxable presence in Australia by operating there but booking their profits offshore.

The ATO said that, under the scheme, an Australian partnership is interposed between the foreign company and the Australian customer. It has been claimed that, because the partnership is technically an "Australian entity" for tax purposes, the MAAL does not apply, even though the partnership's profits are predominantly allocated to offshore entities for tax purposes. According to the ATO, the creation of the partnership is the only change: all other commercial interactions between the multinational and its Australian customers remain unchanged.

The ATO said that it is concerned that the interposed partnership is contrived to prevent the operation of the MAAL through an alleged technical loophole rather than by restructuring to acknowledge an Australian taxable presence.

Since the MAAL came into effect on January 1, 2016, the ATO has contacted 175 entities to assist with MAAL compliance and identify high-risk issues. These companies' affairs are now being reviewed, to confirm whether the MAAL applies and/or whether appropriate restructuring has been undertaken.

The second alert, TP 2016/10, explains the ATO's concerns as to multinationals' engagement in cross-border round-robin financing arrangements. The ATO said that, typically, an Australian company claims interest deductions on a loan from an overseas related party that is funded by the Australian company "investing" in the overseas related party. Deductions are then claimed, but income arising from this "round-robin" investment is subject to little or no tax.