Aus cracks whip on firms avoiding tax

Sydney - Australian tax officials are being embedded inside multinational corporations operating in the country to crack down on tax avoidance, treasurer Joe Hockey said on Tuesday.

Sixty extra staff had been assigned to ensuring the big multinationals pay their fair share of tax from their earnings in Australia, Hockey told reporters in Canberra.

"We are going to work as hard as we can to make sure that companies that earn profits in Australia pay tax in Australia, but it needs to be a coordinated global effort and that is certainly what we are undertaking at the moment," Hockey said.

While not naming any companies Hockey said Australia was missing out on up to A$3bn ($2.48bn) a year in tax from the big multinationals who use elaborate loopholes to avoid tax.

"Multinationals will no longer have the option of trying to use clever accounting to reduce their tax liabilities in Australia. Those days are coming to an end," Hockey later said on ABC Radio.

Some multinational companies have been reported as paying very little tax on their profits in Australia.