Now lawTech & Online Introduced in the House of Representatives, 13 Aug 2026

Tax Office now runs the big tech news charge

This law is one of five that make big social media and search firms pay news businesses, or pay a charge. It sets how the charge is reported, paid, collected and challenged through the Tax Office.

Official name: Treasury Laws Amendment (News Media Bargaining) (Consequential) Bill 2026

Who it affects

• Big tech firms with large social media or search services: They must send in returns and pay on time. They face interest if they pay late.
• Other companies in the same group: Each company in the group can be made to pay the whole unpaid amount.
• Australian news businesses: The charge pushes platforms to make deals with them. Money collected goes to a scheme that pays for journalism.
• The Tax Office: It gets the job of running the charge, giving rulings and chasing unpaid amounts.

Dropping news dodged the code

News businesses have lost a lot of ad money to online platforms. Yet people often find news through social media and search. That helps those platforms.

In 2021 Australia made the News Media Bargaining Code. It aimed to get big platforms to make deals with news outlets. A platform could dodge it by dropping news from its service. Meta owns Facebook. It said it would not renew its deals. They were worth an estimated $70 million a year.

On 12 December 2024, the government announced a new plan. It is called the News Media Bargaining Incentive. Platforms that pay news businesses can shrink the charge, down to nothing. Platforms that do not pay must pay the charge.

Five bills were brought in together. Two set up the charge itself. One sets up a scheme that hands the money to journalism. This bill changes other laws, mostly tax laws, so the charge can work.

The charge in short

The other bills set out the charge. It applies to a group of companies with a big service. That means a social media service with over 5 million Australian users a month. Or it means a search service with over 10 million.

The group must also earn more than $250 million a year from Australian online ads on those services. The charge is 2.5 per cent of that ad money. It is measured from two years earlier.

A group can cancel some or all of the charge. It does this by spending money on deals with at least eight Australian news groups. Spending with small or medium news groups counts double. Spending with larger ones counts one and a half times.

Some search services are left out. These are ones that mainly use the tech behind AI chatbots. The charge applies from the 2025-26 financial year.

Tax Office in charge

This law puts the Commissioner of Taxation in general control of the charge. That is the head of the Australian Taxation Office. The Tax Office collects tax and makes people follow tax laws.

The head of the Tax Office can also give rulings on the charge. A ruling is official advice on how the law applies. It lets firms know what they owe.

The law lets tax officers share private facts with one department. That department runs the News Journalism Payments Act 2026. It hands out the money to journalism.

Filing and paying

The top company in a group must make sure a return goes to the Tax Office if the group has to pay. This applies even if news deals bring the charge down to zero.

The top company must name which company in its group will send the return. That company must be based in Australia, if the group has one. Failing to tell the Tax Office who will send it is a crime.

The return is due within six months after the end of the financial year. Sending in a return counts as the Tax Office's official bill. That bill is called an assessment.

The charge must be paid within 21 days after the Tax Office sends the bill. If the Tax Office later raises the bill, the extra amount is due 21 days after the new one.

Interest and collecting debts

If the Tax Office raises a bill, the firm also pays interest on the extra amount. This covers the time the money should have been paid.

If a firm pays late, interest is added until it pays. This is the same daily interest used for late tax.

The Tax Office can send a bill at any time. This lets it act even if a firm never sends a return.

The Tax Office can chase any company in the group for the full unpaid amount. A company is left out if another Australian law bans it from taking on that debt.

Deductions and challenges

A firm cannot take the charge off its income to lower its income tax.

A firm can still do this for everyday costs of dealing with the charge. Staff time spent working out what it owes is one example.

A firm that disagrees with its bill has 60 days to object to the Tax Office. Because that path exists, the charge laws are taken out of the Administrative Decisions (Judicial Review) Act 1977. That law lets people ask a court to check if a government decision followed the law.

Start date

The bill went into the House of Representatives, the lower house of Parliament, on 13 August 2026. The House passed it on 19 August. The Senate, the upper house, passed it on 20 August 2026.

The Governor-General, who stands in for the King, signed it into law on 26 August 2026. It became Act No. 79 of 2026. It starts at the same time as the News Media Bargaining (Administration) Act, one of the laws that set up the charge. That is the day after that law is signed. If that law never starts, this one does not either.

News reports said the Prime Minister did a deal with Angus Taylor to pass the package fast. Mr Taylor leads the Liberal and National parties.

How they voted

Its journey through Parliament

Official sources

• Bill page on aph.gov.au
• Text of the bill
• Explanatory memorandum
• Bills Digest

Open the full interactive page