Roman Lanis

October 6, 2021

The next Pandora Papers exposé is inevitable – unless governments do more on two key reforms

Roman Lanis, University of Technology Sydney and Peter Wells, University of Technology Sydney

Juicy stories of political leaders stashing loot overseas make good headlines. But the real story is the need for systemic solutions, especially on property rights and transparency.

September 13, 2018

Independent isn’t necessarily better. Why appointing independent directors can achieve little

Roman Lanis, University of Technology Sydney; Chelsea Liu, University of Adelaide; Grant Richardson, Macquarie University, and Ross McClure, University of Technology Sydney

The candidates most likely to be chosen as independent directors are those good at avoiding tax.

May 3, 2018

Revealing how much tax companies pay doesn’t move markets or reduce tax avoidance

Roman Lanis, University of Technology Sydney; Brett Govendir, University of Technology Sydney; Peter Wells, University of Technology Sydney, and Ross McClure, University of Technology Sydney

Mandatory tax return disclosures for large companies were designed to increase public awareness of tax avoidance - but a new study reveals they may not work.

April 22, 2018

Big businesses who give shareholders tax credits pay more tax: study

Roman Lanis, University of Technology Sydney; Brett Govendir, University of Technology Sydney; Peter Wells, University of Technology Sydney, and Ross McClure, University of Technology Sydney

Businesses who pay dividends to shareholders with tax credits attached pay more tax, new research finds.

November 8, 2017

Three strategies to fight the tax avoidance revealed by the Paradise Papers

Roman Lanis, University of Technology Sydney and Brett Govendir, University of Technology Sydney

The ideas are already out there to tackle some of the tax avoidance highlighted by the Paradise Papers.

October 17, 2017

How will Amazon navigate Australia’s taxation system?

Roman Lanis, University of Technology Sydney and Brett Govendir, University of Technology Sydney

Amazon has a reputation for avoiding tax overseas, and early indicators are that this trend will continue in Australia

April 25, 2017

Chevron is just the start: modelling shows how many billions in revenue the government is missing out on

Roman Lanis, University of Technology Sydney; Brett Govendir, University of Technology Sydney, and Ross McClure, University of Technology Sydney

New modelling shows governments need to ensure that corporations benefiting from the use of Australia’s resources, are contributing the same as they do in other jurisdictions.

April 3, 2017

The government’s company tax cut win a triumph of politics over economics

Brett Govendir, University of Technology Sydney and Roman Lanis, University of Technology Sydney

The company tax cut may signal to the world that Australia wants to be competitive on corporate tax, but it won’t make much of a difference to our largest businesses and multinationals.

December 12, 2016

The tax office’s transparency reporting is looking a little opaque

Roman Lanis, University of Technology Sydney; Brett Govendir, University of Technology Sydney, and Ross McClure, University of Technology Sydney

As long as the ATO doesn’t question why companies are reporting zero tax payable on their income, the public won’t know if serious tax avoidance is happening.

September 25, 2016

Australian companies have more work to do on tax transparency

Roman Lanis, University of Technology Sydney and Ross McClure, University of Technology Sydney

A number of Australian companies have released tax reports to the public in a bid to show transparency, however those reports are still incomplete.

September 11, 2016

To really tackle corporate tax evasion we need a public register

Roman Lanis, University of Technology Sydney and Brett Govendir, University of Technology Sydney

The government should follow through on setting up a register of beneficial ownership of companies if it wants to get serious about tax evasion.

July 15, 2016

Some answers, more questions over Dick Smith failure

Roman Lanis, University of Technology Sydney; Brett Govendir, University of Technology Sydney, and Peter Wells, University of Technology Sydney

Dick Smith used increasingly desperate strategies - but who knew and for how long?

July 4, 2016

Companies may be misleading investors by not openly assessing the true value of assets

Peter Wells, University of Technology Sydney; Brett Govendir, University of Technology Sydney, and Roman Lanis, University of Technology Sydney

Managers of well-known Australian companies are misleading investors by taking years to recognise asset impairments and not disclosing that information in financial reporting.

April 13, 2016

Panama Papers force tax authorities to act: but what took so long?

Roman Lanis, University of Technology Sydney and Ross McClure, University of Technology Sydney

Authorities have been slow to respond to the tax revelations of the Panama Papers.

March 24, 2016

These private companies pay less tax than we do – but reasons remain unclear

Roman Lanis, University of Technology Sydney and Ross McClure, University of Technology Sydney

The ATO’s data dump of how much tax was paid by largest private companies raising more questions than it answers.

March 1, 2016

Rethinking ‘small’ business could drive a real ideas boom

Roman Lanis, University of Technology Sydney and Prabhu Sivabalan, University of Technology Sydney

Using tax incentives to motivate innovation is more nuanced than governments sometimes assume.

December 18, 2015

So now we know which companies did not pay tax; time to target aggressive avoidance

Roman Lanis, University of Technology Sydney; Brett Govendir, University of Technology Sydney, and Ross McClure, University of Technology Sydney

The drop of tax data showing hundreds of major companies did not pay tax needs parsing; but there must be crackdown on aggressive tax planning.

October 29, 2015

The accounting trick that helps multinationals avoid paying tax

Roman Lanis, University of Technology Sydney; Anna Bedford, University of Technology Sydney, and Brett Govendir, University of Technology Sydney

A court decision slugging Chevron Australia with a tax bill also reveals the use of an accounting measure that obscures tax paid in Australia.

May 28, 2015

FactCheck: Is BHP Billiton Australia’s largest taxpayer, averaging $8‑10b in tax a year?

Roman Lanis, University of Technology Sydney and Ross McClure, University of Technology Sydney

BHP Billiton’s Andrew Mackenzie says his firm is Australia’s largest taxpayer, pays an average of $8 - $10 billion of tax in Australia every year and has an effective tax rate of 45%. Is that right?

May 20, 2015

Why forcing Google and other tax avoiders to have a ‘taxable presence’ won’t work

Roman Lanis, University of Technology Sydney and Ross McClure, University of Technology Sydney

What constitutes a “taxable presence” in Australia lies at the centre of the government’s proposed tax avoidance clampdown on multinational companies.

April 14, 2015

Explainer: the difference between tax avoidance and evasion

Roman Lanis, University of Technology Sydney and Ross McClure, University of Technology Sydney

Tax avoidance or tax evasion? One is legal and one isn’t, but there are acres of grey area in-between.

March 30, 2015

Issues paper flags ‘lower, simpler, fairer’ tax: experts react

Kathrin Bain, UNSW ; Antony Ting, University of Sydney; Brian Vandenberg, Monash University; Miranda Stewart, Australian National University, and Roman Lanis, University of Technology Sydney

Experts have welcomed another wave of discussion on tax reform, and this time everything’s on the table.

January 29, 2015

Without US support, multinational tax crackdowns will fail

Roman Lanis, University of Technology Sydney and Ross McClure, University of Technology Sydney

It’s no secret that companies including Apple, Google, Amazon, Uber, Airbnb and Ikea seem to pay less than their fair share of tax in Australia. Despite booking huge revenues from sales to Australian customers…

October 2, 2014

What’s needed for Australia to seriously tackle tax avoidance

Roman Lanis, University of Technology Sydney and Ross McClure, University of Technology Sydney

Despite Treasurer Joe Hockey’s continued statements that the government is doing “everything we can … to ensure that companies that earn profits in Australia pay tax in Australia”, the federal government…

June 4, 2014

Westfield’s stoush should shine light on tax paid by property trusts

Roman Lanis, University of Technology Sydney and Ross McClure, University of Technology Sydney

Reports of the Westfield Group’s attempts to push through a A$15 billion restructure - complete with a boisterous showdown last Thursday - have mostly concentrated around the effect of the deal on its…