It has been a tightly held figure, but we now know just how much search engine giant Google rakes in each year from advertising revenue in Australia—and just how little the company pays in tax.
With the government hinting at a tax crackdown on multinational tech companies such as Google, research released this week in PricewaterhouseCoopers’ annual Australian Entertainment and Media Outlook report shows the extent of Google’s profits and its tax bill.
The search giant generated advertising revenues of $1.804 billion in Australia last year, and is expected to grow revenues by another $2.072 billion this year, according to IT Wire.
Yet Google Australia declared a profit of just $46.5 million to the Australian Securities and Investments Commission, and paid just of $7.1 million in tax, or 15% of that income.
Google records the majority of its income in its headquarters in Ireland, which allows it to report its earnings in other countries as ‘service providers’ to the Irish arm of the company.
It also bills its advertising customers out of Singapore, according to IT Wire, where tax rates are much lower.
According to the PwC report, Australian entertainment and media market is forecast to grow to $39.8 billion by 2018, a compound annual growth rate of 3.4%.
Advertising spending is set to reach $14.4 billion by 2018 and, in by that same year, internet advertising will be largest ad sector in the country, reaching $5.7 billion.
Kirsten Robb is a former journalist at SmartCompany. Previously, she worked at News Corp as a property reporter for Leader Newspapers and the Herald Sun, and holds a Masters of Journalism at Melbourne University.
