That’s correct.
In 2013, Billionaire Rupert Murdoch’s media group received a $882m tax rebate from Australia.
“The payment by a “foreign tax authority” was revealed in accounts published by News Corporation in the US earlier this month and related to a $2bn claim by News Corp for historic losses on currency transactions by its Australian subsidiaries.
The payment was estimated to be worth $600m to News Corp but the final figure grew to $882m after interest charges. The Australian Tax Office wanted to challenge the claim but was overruled by the Federal Court of Appeal in July last year, the Australian Financial Review reported on Monday.”1
And the people of Australia, already fed up with Murdoch, were none too pleased; that refund amounted to one of the largest ever faced by the ATO.
“Although the paper loss on the currency transactions involved the Australian businesses and dated back to 1989, the tax refund was paid to Murdoch’s newly created entertainment business 21st Century Fox under the terms of the split of the empire last year, the accounts said.
The Australian Treasury was forced to include the sum in its December budget update which forecast a deficit for this fiscal year of $47bn – a $17bn increase on earlier forecasts.”2
We imagine the ATO will be watching this newly created business and it’s dealings a bit more closely.
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