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PepsiCo embedded royalties, ATO Decision Impact Statement, embedded royalties Australia, royalty withholding tax, diverted profits tax, intellectual property payments, IP arrangements Australia, multinational tax Australia, ATO royalties guidance

The High Court of Australia has dismissed the Tax Commissioner’s (“the Commissioner”) appeals in FCT v PepsiCo, Inc [2025] HCA 30 (“PepsiCo”), ruling that payments made by Schweppes Australia to PepsiCo’s Australian subsidiary for concentrate did not constitute royalties, and that PepsiCo and Stokely‑Van Camp were not liable for royalty withholding tax or diverted profits tax for the 2018 and 2019 income years.

On 19 February 2025, a pivotal Full Federal Court decision in respect of trust law and Division 7A was handed down by the Full Federal Court in Commissioner of Taxation v Bendel [2025] FCAFC 15 which has confirmed in favour of the taxpayer.

On 9 August 2024, the ATO sought to appeal a decision exempting PepsiCo from RWHT, highlighting its focus on taxing embedded royalties, IP, and applying DPT.

PepsiCo appealed a court decision that found it owed the ATO AUD 3.6m in royalty withholding tax for FY 2018 and 2019.