Monday, February 17, 2014

Tax Heaven for Murdoch and Fox

Murdoch’s News Corp's Australian companies has successfully won a decision over the Australian Taxation Office which tried to disallow more than $2 billion in alleged currency exchange losses, which stemmed from a corporate restructure more than 20 years ago. News argued it was entitled to claim losses that resulted from the repayment of a foreign currency loan when there has been a decline in the comparative value of the Australian dollar. The Commissioner of Taxation had disallowed the deductions, arguing no foreign currency actually changed hands. To put it another way, no quantity of Australian money was actually exchanged for any other foreign currency. But Justice Perram found while no cash, coin or bank deposits were exchanged, there was an exchange of liabilities, and that was sufficient to satisfy the relevant tax legislation.

Huh?? “ ...while no cash, coin or bank deposits were exchanged, there was an exchange of liabilities, and that was sufficient to satisfy the relevant tax legislation.”  Does SOYMB read that right? Accountancy rules and paper losses means getting real money back from the tax-man?

Although the paper loss on the currency transactions involved the Australian newspaper businesses, the tax refund was paid to Murdoch’s newly created entertainment business 21st Century Fox.

 The Tax Office was also ordered to pay News Corp legal costs.

The refund amounted to one of the largest ever faced by the ATO. Australian workers will have to accept cuts to government spending and services, treasurer Joe Hockey has warned, as he unveiled a mid year economic and fiscal outlook report showing a “substantial deterioration.”  The Australian Financial Review reported  that the News Corp payment was the “single biggest factor in the budget deterioration” in the four months between August and December.

Sourced from here and here 

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