Google embroiled in PwC Australia tax leak scandal

PwC Australia shared confidential information with Google about the start date of a leaked change to tax law by the Australian government. They were “anti-avoidance” changes explicitly aimed at stopping loss of tax revenue through elaborate measures that companies were implementing to avoid or reduce their tax obligations to us, the tax payer.

This is the first time a company has been connected to the national scandal involving the "big four" accounting firm. PwC is under scrutiny because a former partner shared confidential drafts of changes to the tax law with colleagues before they became law.  In turn, the leaks were then used to attract business from multinational companies. 

In August 2015, one of the partner's colleagues emailed a Google employee to confirm the start date of the government's anti-avoidance law. Although the start date had already been announced, the confirmation came from confidential government briefings. 

The partner did not disclose that the information was confidential. PwC provided a written response in June, which aligns with the information revealed in the publicly released letter. 

Tax officials revealed in May that they had stopped several unnamed multinational firms from subverting the law after the confidential information had leaked.

- CyberBeat