Public country-by-country reporting: ATO draft guidance for exemption applications and registration form

At a glance

• Draft Law Administration Practice Statement PS LA 2025/D1 published for public consultation on proposed instructions to Australian Taxation Office (ATO) staff when considering exemption requests from the public country-by-country reporting (PCbCR) regime.
• Includes range of circumstances that may support granting requests.
• Public CBC reporting parents that may want to apply for exemptions should review the draft PS LA and consider providing comments to the ATO by 5 September 2025.
• ATO has issued a registration form for Public CBC reporting parents.
• Registration is intended to assist ATO administration and engagement and allows authorised contacts to be nominated for queries and report lodgement.
• EY can help with exemption requests, registration, preparation and lodgement of the PCbCR.
  

The Australian Taxation Office (ATO) has issued new materials in relation to Australia’s now operative public country-by-country reporting (PCbCR) regime:

• Draft Law Administration Practice Statement PS LA 2025/D1 (the draft PS LA) which has been published for public consultation. It sets out the proposed instructions to ATO staff when considering exemption requests from the regime or from particular disclosures
• A registration form for public country-by-country reporting parents (Public CBC reporting parents) who will be required to provide PCbCRs.

The PCbCR rules are very wide in scope (impacting both Australian groups and foreign groups with Australian operations). Groups must consider if they are subject to the disclosures and if yes should then consider if:

• You should make an exemption request to the ATO for the 2025 year
• Your systems and processes are in place to provide the ATO with the necessary information by the due date.

The ATO’s draft PS LA guidance on exemption requests sets out a range of circumstances which the ATO will consider when deciding whether to exercise its discretion to grant an exemption request or from making particular disclosures. Key elements, discussed further below, include: 

• The Commissioner will exercise his discretion in a limited way to consider only exceptional circumstances which are unusual and disproportionate to the transparency intent of the regime. 
• Circumstances that may support granting requests include situations where disclosure could affect national security, violate Australian or foreign laws, involve commercially sensitive information resulting in significant consequences for the entity, or where the entity’s income is below the public CBC threshold for reporting in the parent entity’s jurisdiction but falls within Australia’s regime due to exchange rate fluctuations for that period.
• Exemption applications require detailed documentation, as listed in the PS LA. The ATO has developed a standardised exemption application form.
• Exemptions are granted on a year-by-year basis however the ATO may accept short-form applications where there are no changes from the prior year exemption request.

Public CBC reporting parents seeking exemptions will need to carefully manage the process and their interactions with the ATO. The PS LA anticipates that the ATO will engage with applicants before making a decision including to request further information where necessary. 

Public CBC reporting parents that may want to apply for exemptions should review the draft PS LA and consider providing comments to the ATO by 5 September 2025. Applications can be made before the PS LA is issued in final.

The ATO's PCbCR registration form, though not legally required, helps the ATO manage the regime and engage with affected entities by providing updates and guidance. It also permits a registered Australian tax agent to act as the authorised contact for the Public CBC reporting parent for queries and report lodgement. More details about the form can be found on the ATO website.

The PCbCR measures, enacted in December 2024, apply to financial reporting periods commencing on or after 1 July 2024 with reporting to the ATO within 12 months of year end. For taxpayers with a 30 June 2025 year end, the report is due by 30 June 2026. For taxpayers with a 31 December 2025 year end, the report is due 31 December 2026. The ATO will publish the data on the website https://data.gov.au/.