Call centre operator that won major Centrelink contract paid no corporate tax for two years

Centrelink

The Guardian Australia reports on an outsource call centre operator for Centrelink which paid no corporate tax for several years even after winning a major government agency contract worth tens of millions of dollars.

Jason Ward (CICTAR) is quoted, explaining that the business appeared to be structured in ways “to have avoided reporting and tax obligations in Australia”.

He said the federal government should subject those bidding for public contracts to higher levels of transparency.

The Perth-headquartered company, Telco Services Australia, generated more than $185m in revenue in 2024-25 but reported no taxable income, new financial documents show. The year before, it reported $130m in income and also paid zero tax. The two-year reporting period coincides with the company’s multi-year $90m-plus contract to run call centre operations for Services Australia, the agency responsible for social security.