Google Australia brought in $4.8 billion in the year to December but reported revenue of only $1.2 billion, according to financial statements lodged with corporate regulator ASIC.
Of this, Google lists its total income tax expenses at $99.7 million.
The multinational digital platform positions the australian company as a sales agent for Google Asia-Pacific, a Singapore-registered entity, or as it says "facilitate the sale of advertising between Google Asia Pacific Pte Ltd and the advertiser".
Of the $4.8 million recorded as gross revenue in Australia, excluding the cost of sales, $4.3 billion of it was advertising and "other reseller revenue", up from 16% from $3.7 billion in 2018, according to notes with Google Australia's financial statements for the year to December 2019.
The numbers fit with recent statements by Australian publishers which estimate Google and facebook combined book $6 billion in ad sales in a year.
Nine chairman Peter Costello says Google and Facebook should pay news media businesses $600 million, or 10% of the $6 billion they make a year in local advertising revenue, for the use of premium news.
News Corp Australiasia executive chair Michael Miller says the figure could be as high as $1 billion, according to his modelling.
The numbers from Google Australia:
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