Top 100 public groups show strong assurance results

The ATO has released its public group findings reports as of 30 June 2026 after engaging with large corporates.

This year, the Tax Office said it continued to see high levels of assurance across large public and multinational businesses following strong engagement.

For the top 100 population, 82 per cent achieved either high or medium assurance for income tax, while 98 per cent achieved either high or medium assurance for GST.

Almost nine in 10 of the top 1,000 population achieved either high or medium assurance for income tax, while 95 per cent achieved a similar level of assurance for GST.

“These assurance ratings continue to give us confidence that most large businesses are paying the right amount of tax and reporting the right GST outcomes,” the ATO said.

The ATO also found that of the $61.5 billion in income tax paid by the top 100 economic groups in 2024, $52.9 billion was paid by taxpayers with high or medium assurance. Nearly all the $11.9 billion GST reported and paid by reviewed Top 100 GST reporters was paid by taxpayers with high or medium assurance.

More than 95 per cent of top 100 taxpayers now have current-year justified trust reviews underway, out of which 80 per cent have no past-year justified trust reviews outstanding, according to the review.

The ATO reported improved governance outcomes for income tax, with more than half of taxpayers achieving the highest governance rating for income tax (stage 3). Meanwhile, 61 per cent of the top 100 GST reporters achieved a stage 2 or stage 3 rating.

Assurance outcomes also improved across the Top 1,000 population. Of the $38.4 billion income tax paid by taxpayers in the Top 1,000 population in 2023–24, $32.6 billion was paid by taxpayers given a high or medium assurance rating in their latest review.

The report also provided data on compliance and dispute outcomes, with 2025–26 figures showing that the ATO raised almost $2.1 billion in total income tax liabilities and $3.1 billion in GST liabilities.

A further $2.2 billion was paid voluntarily from prior compliance activities and preventative engagement.

The ATO said global profit shifting, international related party dealings, and cross-border investment structures were its key focus areas across its compliance and dispute programs.

It added that it continues to resolve disputes through settlement where appropriate. During 2025–26, the ATO settled 30 disputes involving public and multinational businesses, and secured around $1.3 billion in tax revenue.

“While large business remains one of the most compliant segments of the tax system, we continue to maintain a strong compliance presence to address significant risks where they arise,” the ATO said.

During 2025–26, the ATO continued to focus on real-time justified trust engagement with the top 100 taxpayers, and embedded the supplementary annual GST return (SAGR) as a mechanism for maintaining GST assurance, it said.

It also enhanced its advice and guidance and advanced its pricing arrangement, and used insights from assurance, tax certainty, reportable tax position (RTP), and compliance programs to refine its risk identification and engagement strategies.

“Our findings continue to show sustained engagement, strong governance, greater transparency and early disclosure encourage improved taxpayer behaviours, higher assurance outcomes and increased confidence in the large business tax system,” the ATO said.

The ATO uses information from tax returns (including the RTP and international dealings schedules), business activity statements, country-by-country reporting, and supplementary annual GST returns.

The information helps it identify emerging risks and behavioural trends across the market and target assurance and compliance activities where they are most needed.