Labor has accused the Coalition of overstating its claimed near $3 billion success in cracking down on multinational tax avoidance, citing advice from Tax Commissioner Chris Jordan.
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Fenner MP and shadow assistant treasurer Andrew Leigh released correspondence with Mr Jordan on Friday, showing the seven legal cases the government has used to arrive at the $2.9 billion figure span multiple years and rely on a series of laws, including some passed by the former Labor government.
Amid rising debate about inequality and tax rates in Australia,Treasurer Scott Morrison has accused Labor of voting against clawback efforts targeting overseas companies.
Dr Leigh asked Mr Jordan how many of the court cases involved the Coalition government's 2015 tax laws designed to combat multinationals minimising their bills to the ATO and which relied on 2012 and 2013 laws limiting so-called profit shifting and transfer pricing.
In his response Mr Jordan said the government's Multinational Anti-Avoidance Law, which came into effect from January 1 2016, "indirectly caused discussion to be brought forward and gave impetus to the 'cleaning up' of back years in order to agree future years."
"This was relevant for some of the seven multinational corporations who are restructuring in response to the [law] as it was intended to do," he said.
He said the law had seen a secondary effect of bringing taxpayers to the table on issues pre-dating its introduction but the ATO expects to enter into "several large settlements" before the end of the year.
Labor said the anti-avoidance law was unlikely to have contributed any significant proportion of the $2.9 billion in funds between its January introduction and April 2016.
On Friday, Mr Morrison said accused Opposition Leader Bill Shorten of being happy for multinational companies to pay less tax in Australia.
"Bill Shorten likes to talk about tax integrity, but he actually voted against multinationals paying their fair share of tax," he told Sky News.
"Legislation that I took through the parliament which ensured that last year alone we had almost $3 billion in additional liabilities raised."
The comments came as Mr Morrison said the government's existing efforts to crackdown on private trusts had raised almost $1 billion in revenue.
Labor is expected to take plans to increase the taxes paid by trusts to the election, hitting high wealth individuals.
"Bill Shorten doesn't get what's happening in rural Australia, he doesn't understand what's happening with small business," Mr Morrison said.
"He's going to reverse the tax cuts we've already legislated for small business, now he's coming after them with a meat cleaver on trusts."
Dr Leigh accused the government of "trying to take credit for funds which Labor legislation raised."
"The [Multinational Anti-Avoidance Law] has only operated since January 2016, yet Mr Morrison would have us believe it was responsible for multi-year liabilities from well before then," he said.
"He also failed to mention that he and his colleagues voted against our laws to crack down on multinational tax dodgers.
"I understand Scott Morrison is in need of a win, but he can't take credit for this one."
