Australia Urged to Align Software Tax Rule With Global Standards

The National Foreign Trade Council joined other industry groups in expressing concerns about Australia’s “overly broad approach” in a draft ruling to tax payments for software and intellectual property.

The ruling targets goods and services that are often made up of many components, and applying a withholding tax to the entire payment is overreaching, the NFTC said in its letter to the Australian Treasury on Friday.

The draft ruling details the Australian Taxation Office’s views on when payments for software will count as royalties and copyright that are liable for tax, which is based on case law and new ...