Australia will not progress plans to introduce interim digital taxes, but will instead wait to see the outcome of multilateral efforts coordinated by the OECD for taxing the digital economy according to Australia’s Treasurer Josh Frydenberg.

Australia conducted a government consultation in October 2018 on the implications of an interim unilateral approach to dealing with the digital economy. Feedback from that consultation process along with international developments lead by the OECD culminated in a decision by the Australian government to focus on a multilateral process in place of putting a unilateral tax in place. The UK confirmed in its recent Spring Statement that its plans to unilaterally introduce a digital services tax will proceed from April 2020.