PwC Australia boss quits over leak scandal

ACCOUNTANCY firm PwC Australia says its chief executive has resigned following a scandal over the leaking of confidential government plans to crack down on tax avoidance by multinationals.

Tom Seymour stepped down “effective immediately”, the firm said in a statement on Monday that was provided to AFP.

PwC Australia, part of the Big Four global giant PwC, stressed “the immediate need for the firm to rebuild and enhance trust”.

It has been embroiled in scandal since then-international tax partner Peter Collins was found to have made “unauthorised disclosures” about the government’s planned tax reforms.

Collins had shared details from confidential Treasury briefings – held between 2013 and 2018 – with PwC Australia partners and staff, Australia’s Tax Practitioners Board said in January.

He was deregistered as a tax agent in November last year and barred from reapplying for two years, the regulator said, confirming a story first reported by the Australian Financial Review.

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PwC Australia itself also breached its obligations by failing to manage its conflicts of interest in the affair, the regulator said at the time.

The Treasury’s confidential tax plans included new rules to stop multinationals avoiding tax by shifting profits from Australia to tax and secrecy havens, the Tax Practitioners Board said.

The resignation of Seymour followed a Senate committee’s release last week of more than 140 pages of PwC emails dating back to 2014 that revealed internal discussions of the confidential briefings given to Collins. AFP