Australia’s tax rates

As most everywhere else in the world, Australia’s tax and royalty rates are not simple.

First, all corporations earning a profit in Australia pay a flat 30 percent income tax to the federal treasury, with some credits for research and development expenditures.

If the oil and gas production is onshore or in coastal waters, a royalty is payable to the states or Northwest Territory, usually about 10 percent of the net wellhead value.

No royalty is due for offshore production. Instead, most offshore production (there are exceptions) pays a Petroleum Resource Rent Tax to the federal government of 40 percent of net income after project exploration and development costs have been deducted. The government offers significant incentives against the tax for frontier exploration.

There also is federal excise tax on oil and condensate production (not natural gas), ranging from 0 to 30 percent depending on the annual flow. The 0-to-30 range applies to post-1975 discoveries; different rates apply to older fields. And the first 30 million barrels of production per field are exempt from the tax.

—Larry Persily