One in four of Australia's largest companies paid no tax last year, but many are tearing through their losses, setting up a multibillion-dollar windfall for the Morrison government ahead of an election-year budget.

The new tax transparency figures, released by the Australian Tax Office on Thursday, show the Commonwealth Bank is the nation's largest taxpayer with $3.9 billion handed over in 2016-17. But digital behemoth Atlassian and energy giant Origin paid no company tax at all as they offset their bill through losses and tax concessions.

A crackdown on internet companies Google, Facebook, Microsoft and other e-commerce firms has already netted the budget more than $1 billion, as the digital titans get their books in order under new Australian multinational anti-avoidance laws.

Origin Energy paid no tax last year. Credit:Louie Douvis

The Tax Office estimated the tax gap - the difference between the tax that should have been collected but wasn't - fell to 4.4 per cent or $1.8 billion, due to "differences in the interpretation of complex areas of tax laws".