Telco Services Australia reported no taxable income for two years despite Centrelink contract

An outsource call-centre operator for Centrelink, Perth-headquartered Telco Services Australia, generated more than $185m in revenue in 2024–25 yet reported no taxable income, new financial documents show. The company also reported $130m in income the year before and paid no corporate tax during that year, a reporting period that coincides with its multi-year contract worth more than $90m to run call-centre operations for Services Australia.

The documents, lodged on Christmas Eve, show $166.5m in related-party transactions last financial year, with no detail on the identity of those related parties. Jason Ward, principal analyst at the Centre for International Corporate Tax Accountability and Research, said the payments appeared to “virtually eliminate profits” and that the business was structured in ways “to have avoided reporting and tax obligations in Australia”.

The filings also show payments for directors and key management personnel increased even after the company reported a financial loss. TSA Group, which runs Telco Services and says it employs more than 4,300 staff across five contact centres in Australia and the Philippines, told Guardian Australia other associated entities did record taxable income and the appropriate tax had been paid, and that the arrangements had been assessed by a large independent auditor.

Key Topics

Business, Telco Services Australia, Tsa Group, Services Australia, Corporate Tax, Related Parties