Australia Seeks New Penalty on Companies Avoiding Royalty Taxes

Australia plans to introduce a new tax penalty for big companies that try to avoid taxes on royalties in its latest move to crack down on multinationals that it says aren’t paying their fair share.

The proposed new provision would impose a penalty on companies found to have mischaracterized or undervalued their royalty payments in cases where royalty withholding taxes would otherwise apply, according to the government’s latest budget unveiled Tuesday.

The penalty would apply starting in July 2026 to companies that are part of a group with more than $1 billion in annual global turnover, according to the budget, ...