"Joe Hockey is full of big talk about cracking down on tax avoidance. But when it counts in the party room and the Parliament, his government consistently lets companies off the hook."

The exemption was flagged by Senator Frydenberg during a Coalition party room meeting on Tuesday.

Mr Abbott gave his support, telling the meeting: "Well, let's advance that."

The law requires the tax commissioner to publish on the Tax Office website, the name and ABN of each business, their total income, taxable income and income tax paid. The last two items are not available in statutory accounts.

Mr Frydenberg said he was concerned the heads of private companies, many of them rich families, would be targeted by criminals.

Misuse of information

"Legitimate concerns have been raised about the misuse of information related to privately held companies that is made public as part of tax transparency measures," he said in a statement.

"Consideration of whether information about private companies is published in no way diminishes their legal accountability to the ATO and its ability to enforce Australia's tax laws.


"Australia has taken strong action on countering multinational tax avoidance, through leading the G20 last year and tightening Australia's thin capitalisation rules."

Another Coalition MP raised concerns that disclosing a company's financials could provide an advantage for competitors. Suppliers to the big supermarket chains could fall into this category, the MP said.

An adviser to Melbourne's richest families, Mark Leibler, expressed concerns about the laws in December, telling Fairfax Media that many rich families feared for their privacy, having "flown under the radar" in terms of their fortunes being paraded on rich lists, and "want it to stay that way".

Last week, Treasurer Joe Hockey said multinational tax avoidance was a key threat to the income tax base, which might not exist in 30 or 40 years due to multinational tax avoidance.

Companies, limited partnerships, corporate unit trusts and public trading trusts are all captured by the change, introduced by Labor as part of efforts to crack down on profit shifting.

A discussion paper released in 2013 said imposing a statutory duty on the commissioner to publish the information would ensure there was no contravention of existing confidentiality provisions.

"Large multinational companies that use complex arrangements and contrived corporate structures to avoid paying their fair share of tax should not be able to hide behind a veil of secrecy," said David Bradbury, who was assistant treasurer at the time.

Accountants critical of measure


Chartered accountants were critical of the measure when it was brought in. Tax policy head Paul Stacey complained there was no consultation about the law, which could deter investment.

"While transparency is generally positive, this measure has the potential to confuse, rather than enlighten, and may cause unintentional harm to businesses and collateral damage to our economy more broadly," he said at the time.

"Uninformed transparency may adversely change individuals' perceptions of particular businesses and business in general."

Most companies make it difficult for the public to find detailed information about their tax affairs. Rio Tinto has pioneered voluntarily publishing of reports about how much tax they pay in Australia and internationally.

Rio's latest annual report on taxes paid, released on Monday, revealed it paid $US5.7 billion ($7.5 billion) in taxes and royalties to Australian governments last year out of $US7.1 billion globally.

Another of the mining giants, BHP Billiton, is planning to release a similar report.