Netflix paid just $868,000 in tax in Australia last year, despite six million local subscribers paying the streaming giant hundreds of millions of dollars.
According to its ASIC filings, Netflix Australia turned its first profit last year, led by pandemic-driven subscribers who brought the company a cool $30.7 million in Aussie revenue for the year, up an impressive 49 per cent.
However, Netflix users in Australia are billed by a division in the Netherlands, and therefore the company can claim a mere $1.5 million post-tax profit, with a tax bill of just $868,000.
In 2020, the company only paid $554,000.
A Netflix spokesperson said of the creative book-keeping: “We have filed our financial statements as required.”
Perhaps acknowledging this disconnect, Netflix has moved its billing to Australia this year, meaning its tax bill will be substantially bigger next time around. Possibly.
