Australian gaming group Tabcorp announced it has resolved a dispute with the Australian Taxation Office (ATO) in relation to the income tax treatment of payments for various licences and authorities, and will receive a refund of AU$83 million ($53.4 million).
According to the announcement, Tabcorp had paid to the Commissioner in full the disputed amount of tax liabilities and interest.
As part of the settlement, the ATO will refund Tabcorp approximately AU$83 million which represents 20 percent of the disputed tax liabilities and interest, with each proceeding brought by the taxpayers will be dismissed.
Tabcorp, in turn, is required to pay approximately AU$37 million ($23.8 million) to The Lottery Corporation Limited (TLC) under the terms of the Separation Deed dated 25 March 2022 between Tabcorp and TLC.
This pertains to the demerger of TCL, the unit that operates the Tatts Lotto and Keno business across Australia’s six states, from the group’s gaming and wagering division.
The gaming company will also recognise a benefit of approximately AU$45 million after tax in its financial statements for the year ending 30 June 2024. This benefit will be treated as a significant item. The settlement will include future licence fees payable in respect of renewals of relevant existing licences.
This month Tabcorp was also slapped with an AU$1 million ($650,000) fine by the Victorian Gambling and Casino Control Commission (VGCCC) for non-compliance with its directives relating to an investigation of a system outage in 2020.
