PERTH (miningweekly.com) – Major Rio Tinto on Tuesday said that it would dispute an assessment by the Australian Taxation Office (ATO), after the ATO issued the company with an amended assessment of A$359.4-million primary tax and A$47.1-million of interest.
The assessment was in addition to the more than A$8.4-billion of income tax paid in Australia during the relevant period, Rio said.
The assessments relate to the denial of interest deductions on an isolated borrowing used to pay an intragroup dividend in 2015. This borrowing was repaid in 2018.
Rio told shareholders that it was confident of its position and would dispute the assessments.
Rio will pay 50% of the primary tax up-front as part of the objections process, as part of normal usual practice.