PepsiCo Case Prompts Australia to Wait on Software-Tax Ruling

Australian authorities plan to hold off on finalizing their guidance on software and royalty taxes until a critical court case involving PepsiCo Inc. and royalty taxes is resolved.

The Australian Taxation Office said this week that it will “defer finalisation” of its January draft ruling on software pending the outcome of its appeal to the High Court of Australia of a lower court’s June decision in PepsiCo’s favor.

The ATO’s software draft ruling lays out when authorities will treat companies’ payments to bring software and other intellectual property into Australia as royalties subject to withholding taxes. The US Treasury ...