The Effectiveness of Voluntary Corporate Tax Disclosures: An Australian Case Study

The disclosure of tax information by corporate taxpayers is often thought to be an important tool in the quest by tax administrators to reduce multinational tax avoidance. To date, most initiatives have involved disclosure to revenue authorities. A second limb to disclosure is the provision of tax information to shareholders and the general public. There are very few examples of voluntary
public disclosure by corporate taxpayers and many observers are sceptical as to its effectiveness in reducing tax minimisation. Australia provides a prominent example of a public disclosure regime with its Tax Transparency Code reports that have been produced by taxpayers on a voluntary basis since 2016. This article reports on a study that tested the extent to which disclosures under a voluntary code can increase awareness or understanding of the tax behaviour of large corporations and whether the information affects public perceptions and consequent corporate responses. Three different measurements were used to test the potential impact of disclosure: the comprehensibility of the information provided, whether the market viewed information provided as new information, and the volume and accessibility of information.