The Treasurer said the government would introduce a law on January 1 next year targeting the profit diversion tactics implemented by 30 multinational companies as a means of avoiding tax obligations in Australia.

Those to be affected by the multinational anti-avoidance law will be operators billing internationally for domestic economic activity before transferring the funds through a range of jurisdictions to avoid their Australian tax obligations.

The law to be introduced will grant greater powers to the Australian Taxation Office. Under the changes, the ATO will be able to recover unpaid taxes by multinationals and issue an additional fine of 100% of the unpaid taxes with interest from the start of next year.

Hockey said the new law would be a step towards ensuring Australian money remains in the country.

"If we strengthen our own anti-avoidance measures to ensure the Tax Office has the powers to see through these contrived arrangement, then we will be able to recover the tax that should be paid in Australia on the profits that are made in Australia," he said.

Hockey would not be drawn to put a figure on the revenue to be gained from the new tax initiative, but said it would be in the region of "billions of dollars".

He also refused to name the 30 companies at the centre of the debate, but said a voluntary code of tax disclosure for multinationals would be introduced along with other measures in the coming weeks.

The government has also ruled out applying the tax measures in retrospect. Hockey said he was confident the significant financial implications for multinationals would ensure they moved in line with any changes to legislation.

The inclusion of multinational anti-avoidance measures in the budget follows a senate corporate tax avoidance inquiry undertaken last month, which major miners BHP Billiton and Rio Tinto fronted in relation to operations by their respective Singapore hubs.

BHP later revealed it had received a tax bill for $A522 million in Australia for its Singapore hub, which it has disputed. The company paid $121,000 tax in Singapore between 2006 and 2014, compared with $945 million tax in Australia.

Representatives for Rio Tinto told the inquiry that its Singapore hub made a $790 million profit and paid a 5% tax rate in 2014.

The federal budget will be announced at 7.30pm AEST tonight.