Fossil fuel giants using questionable deductions to shrink tax bills: Auditor-General

Auditor-General Grant Hehir warns his
 review may only scratch the surface.

A damning investigation has found multinational companies are claiming billions of dollars in questionable deductions while exploiting the nation's natural riches, using accounting tricks allowed to flourish under a hands-off government approach that is dudding Australian taxpayers of royalties.

And in a stunning disclosure, the probe by Auditor-General Grant Hehir found nearly two decades had passed since a federal government audited the self-assessed royalty payments from the North West Shelf, a giant project located in the lucrative oil and gas region off the West Australian coast and jointly owned by Woodside, Shell, Chevron and BHP Billiton.

Read Heath Aston’s story in today’s Melbourne Age - “Fossil fuel giants using questionable deductions to shrink tax bills: Auditor-General.”