Australian Residents, Foreign Trusts and Foreign Funds – The New Black! – covering the Australian tax implications of Australian individuals being trustees or beneficiaries of foreign trustsDecember 12, 2019
APRA’s ‘heatmap’ data on MySuper products – AFR article shows the best and the worst (nowhere to hide for dud super funds)December 12, 2019
Corporate tax residency review: second Board of Taxation consultation paper – consulting on 2 main (remaining) options – ‘incorporation only’ test and a modified ‘central management and control’ testDecember 10, 2019
APRA released ‘heatmap’ for MySuper products – showing relative: investment performance; fees and costs; and sustainability (it says a ‘game changer’)December 10, 2019
CofT v Pavihi – Promoter of schemes to transfer super to SMSF’s – subject to $200,000 civil penalty and 7 year ban from being involved in establishing SMSFsDecember 10, 2019
Treasury Laws Amendment (Research and Development Tax Incentive) Bill 2019 introduced – increase $100m threshold to $150m; cap refunds to $4m pa; extend GAAR to R&D offsets and allow Innovation Board to issue binding rulingsDecember 9, 2019
Treasury Laws Amendment (2019 Measures No 3) Bill 2019 – introduced proposing changes to concessions for ‘testamentary trusts’, FBT definition to include ‘Uber’ etc, company loss recoupment rules, small business restructures and various superannuation changesDecember 9, 2019
GSJW v CofT – AAT gives the taxpayer a rare win, ‘releasing’ the taxpayer from $900k of GIC on ‘serious hardship’ grounds (leaving only $40k of ‘primary tax’)December 9, 2019
Australia’s tax take is second-highest in world – that is taxes on income and profits as a percentage of total taxes – AFR article shows OECD rankingsDecember 7, 2019
High Court torpedoes class actions – holding that existing laws do not support Courts making ‘class funding orders’December 7, 2019
BMW & Westpac cases – High Court rules that the Federal Court Act and the NSW Civil Procedure Act do not support Courts making ‘Class Funding Orders’ representative class actionsDecember 7, 2019
Peru-Australia Free Trade Agreement; Indonesia-Australia Comprehensive Economic Partnership Agreement & Free Trade Agreement between Australia and Hong Kong, China – given force of law in AustraliaDecember 2, 2019
Treasury Laws Amendment (International Tax Agreements) Bill 2019 received Royal Assent as Act No 107 of 2019 – Australian-Israel DTA & new Div 764 DTA deemed source ruleDecember 2, 2019
ATO uses additional resources to widen ‘review’ from largest 320 groups to largest 500 & ‘tax assurance resources’ to groups with wealth exceeding $5m or revenue over $10mDecember 2, 2019
Treasury Laws Amendment (Your Superannuation, Your Choice) Bill 2019 – superannuation ‘choice’ extended to employees under post 30 June 2020 ‘enterprise agreements’ and ‘workplace determinations’December 1, 2019
CGT ‘main residence’ exemption to exclude ‘non-residents’ – Scrutiny of Bills Committee concerns with the ‘retrospective’ effect of this measure (but not in the sense that really matters)November 30, 2019
AFR article about the Bill which would deny any ‘main residence’ CGT exemption, to a vendor who was non-resident at the time of sale (rather than limiting the exemption to the residency period)November 30, 2019
The ‘Combatting Illegal Phoenixing’ and ‘Housing Affordability’ Bills (both ‘Treasury Laws’ and ‘Foreign Takeovers’ Bills) – pass our Lower House without amendment – including controversial non-resident ‘main residence’ measureNovember 30, 2019
ASIC v Dover Financial Advisers Pty Ltd – Financial services company and director breached the Corps Act and ASIC act because its ‘Client Protection Policy’ did not give them ‘maximum protection possible’ but in fact purported to strip them of rightsNovember 29, 2019
Glencore Investment ‘transfer pricing’ appeal – Commissioner late to file his appeal (by 5 mins) but granted leave to appeal lateNovember 29, 2019
ASIC bans Melbourne adviser – advising to establish an SMSF, roll out super and invest into related party property developments or developersNovember 28, 2019
‘Retirement income review’ consultation paper – building on the Productivity Commission’s superannuation report & investigating the “three pillars” of the retirement income systemNovember 28, 2019
Toowong Pastures Pty Ltd as Trustee for the DB Family Trust trading as KBE Contracting Australia [Pty Ltd – sic] v CofT – Super Guarantee payable for building site worker who was held NOT to be an independent contractorNovember 28, 2019
Bosanac v CofT – High Court refuses taxpayer’s Ceriorari application to quash lower court decisions in ATO’s favour – saying that Part IVC appeals can apply to post objection decision further amended assessmentsNovember 27, 2019
SA Land Tax – Government does an Upper House cross-bench deal to further reduce land tax – including max rate down from 3.7% to 2.4% and threshold increased to $2mNovember 26, 2019
Commissioner appeals Addy decision – backpackers from Chile, Finland, Germany, Japan, Norway, Turkey and the United Kingdom urged to wait and employers likewiseNovember 26, 2019
The new Inspector General of Taxation and Taxation Ombudsman: Karen Payne addressed the Melbourne LCA Tax Committee on the nature, role and priorities of the IGTO, particularly under her new tenureNovember 26, 2019
Private Groups Stewardship Group – provides committee members with ATO’s ‘notification of clients’ and ‘typical questions’ to engage with ‘High Wealth Private Groups’November 26, 2019
Addy v Commissioner of Taxation – Statement from ATO on effect of DTA ‘anti-discrimination’ invalidity of ‘backpacker’ tax, whilst Commissioner decides if he’ll appealNovember 24, 2019
FCT v Iannuzzi (No 2) – Liquidator disqualified for 10 years for systematic conduct facilitating ‘illegal phoenixing’ which was at least ‘reckless’November 24, 2019
Super Guarantee amnesty Bill: Senate Committee report recommending the Bill be passed and the Minority Labor ReportNovember 24, 2019
Bobos v DCT – A company director subject to a default judgment for director penalties has been unsuccessful in challenging a bankruptcy notice based on the judgment debtNovember 24, 2019
PCG 2019/D8 – ATO won’t audit deductions claimed for superannuation contributions, made at the end of the year, through the ‘Small Business Superannuation Clearing House’, if the fund finally gets the money the next yearNovember 23, 2019
TD 2019/D12 – payments that would otherwise be deductible, in Australia, could be denied deductions, despite being taxed in the US under their ‘GILTI’ (low taxed income) rulesNovember 23, 2019
TR 2019/D6 – Capital expenses: labour costs incurred in creating capital assets – the Commissioner ventures the ‘brave’ view they are capital in nature (and not a ‘general deduction’)November 23, 2019
Research and Development tax incentives leave Australia near the bottom of the pile for national R&D spend – one idea about what’s to be doneNovember 23, 2019
Probin and FCT – Super Guarantee payable for property maintenance worker – whose work was too closely controlled by the taxpayerNovember 20, 2019
