Tom Seymour, chief executive of PwC Australia, has resigned, effective immediately after confidential Treasury information on tax policy was leaked.
Key Takeaways
- Tom Seymour, chief executive of PwC Australia has resigned effective immediately.
- His resignation follows the leak of confidential Treasury information on tax policy in January this year.
- Seymour was one of the partners who received emails about confidential information from PwC adviser Peter-John Collins.
- Seymour confirmed he was linked to the tax leaks scandal on Friday.
- Seymour had been chief executive since March 2020, after serving as the firm’s Asia Pacific Americas tax leader and managing partner of legal and tax.
Key background
In January this year, the Tax Practitioners Board terminated the registration of Collins as a tax agent, after he shared secret information about the government’s tax plans with other staff at PwC.
But earlier this month, a Senate Committee published internal firm emails that showed some PwC partners and staff were involved in a plan to exploit Collins’ information on the government’s tax avoidance laws for profit.
On Friday, Seymour confirmed he was one of the partners that had received the emails – along with a number of others in senior roles. He told the firm’s partners he would not be stepping down, but was open to their feedback. By Monday, he had resigned from his position, effective immediately.
Look back on the week that was with hand-picked articles from Australia and around the world. Sign up to the Forbes Australia newsletter here or become a member here.
