Singtel Loss Strengthens Australia Focus on Intercompany Loans

Singapore telecom giant Singtel‘s failed final appeal over claimed tax deductions from a related-party loan underscores the Australian government’s ability to drill into the details of in-house debt and deny transfer pricing benefits if taxpayers don’t appear to follow the rules.

The Australian High Court denial Oct. 25 closed an eight-year saga of the Australian Tax Office arguing that the company improperly set an interest rate on an intercompany loan that allowed it to take deductions it shouldn’t have.

“This is another case where the ATO is looking beyond the interest rate, and focusing on other aspects of the ...