PWC tax leak: Four high-flyers at centre of scandal named – and two previously worked for ATO

Four of the wealthy partners at the center of the PwC tax scandal gripping Australia have been revealed – and at least two were once employed by the ATO.

Together, the four men had more than 75 years of experience in Australian tax law and could each have earned more than $1 million a year while working at the firm.

None of the men mentioned is still employed by PwC. It is clear that one of them retired in 2019, while another has since resigned his position at another company.

Peter Collins has been suspended as a tax advisor and is being investigated by the Australian Federal Police.

A further 63 PwC partners and employees have been named as having received at least one of the confidential emails, but the big four are hesitant to include employees who may not have known the content they had received was confidential.

Here, Daily Mail Australia looks at the four partners publicly identified in the breach so far.

Peter Collins

Peter Collins was the first to be named in the PwC scandal and is the subject of an AFP investigation.

He was banned as a tax adviser in 2022, after the Board of Tax Advisers found that he had leaked confidential information to give his company an advantage when negotiating deals with outside companies.

Nearly ten years ago, Mr. Collins was approached by the federal government to help design laws to ensure that foreign companies paid their fair share of tax in Australia.

As a PwC international tax expert, he seemed like a perfect fit and signed non-disclosure agreements to ensure the safety of the plans.

It was later determined that he used that information to bring in new clients and help investigate tax policy loopholes.

Internal emails seen by Daily Mail Australia show that Mr Collins referred to ‘famous last words’ in correspondence that was not allowed to be circulated.

“Okay in practice until the ATO gets grumpy and gets the joke,” he said.

In many other emails, he made comments such as “for your eyes only,” “no need to share this as it should all be a secret,” and “as usual, treat it like a rumor.”

An email from a redacted employee credited Mr Collins with bringing in a ‘significant number of customers’.

The email read: “We were aggressive in telling these relations to act early (aided greatly by the accuracy of the information Peter Collins was able to provide us, and our analysis of the politics).”

First phase revenue from customers was estimated to be approximately $2.5 million.

The TPB said: ‘Internal communications within PwC indicated that Mr. Collins was aware that the confidential knowledge he gained during discussions with Treasury would be used to market PwC to a new client base.’

Paul McNab

Mr. McNab was part of PwC’s tax controversy and litigation team and has more than 30 years of industry experience.

He considers resolving federal and state revenue disputes his main specialty, and throughout his career has conducted audits on behalf of taxpayers and provided tax advice to technology, telecommunications and media companies.

He spent seven years with the Australian Tax and Customs Administration as a compliance branch officer.

Ms McNab confirmed he was named in the breakup but said ‘it’ It is noteworthy that the company took this action to name only former partners. I had no advance warning or opportunity to react.”

“For the record, I was not involved in any Treasury discussions about MAAL [Multinational Anti-Avoidance Law] where confidential information was discussed. In addition, I trusted that the information shared with me as a partner of the firm would comply with any confidentiality agreements that may have been in place with Treasury,” he said.

“I have always worked with my clients to comply with, not avoid, Australian law.”

Mr McNab has worked at global law firm DLA Piper since leaving PwC in 2020 but resigned after being identified.

A spokesperson said: “In the midst of this media frenzy, Paul decided to do the honorable thing and act in the best interest of the company.”

Neil Fuller

The last partner to be publicly named is Neil Fuller.

Mr. Fuller was a senior tax partner at the firm, but would have retired in 2019 after 31 years.

Michael Berten

Mr Bersten was also named in the scandal.

The former tax and legal partner at PwC, like Mr. McNab, was once employed by the ATO. There he served as Deputy Chief Tax Counsel and Chief of the Office of Chief Tax Counsel.

Mr Bersten left PwC in July 2018 after 14 years and seven months with the firm and is now Deputy Chairman of the Law Council of Australia’s Tax Committee for NSW.

He said on LinkedIn that he has “acted in many of Australia’s major tax controversies” and has “a good understanding of ATO policy and practice.”