To help you understand the new Country-by-Country reporting requirements, the ATO now has a publication on the high level design of the Local file (similar to that released on 7 July). The Local file is a statement multinational entities with an annual global income of A$1 billion are required to provide us for income years…
28/07/2016 – Interested parties are invited to provide comments on a discussion draft which deals with approaches to address BEPS involving interest in the banking and insurance sectors under Action 4 (Interest deductions and other financial payments) of the BEPS Action Plan. In October 2015, the BEPS Action 4 Report Limiting Base Erosion Involving Interest Deductions and Other…
T a x T e c h n i c a l – M o n t h l y N e w s – August 2016 Developments – This is a collection of developments in Australian tax law and practice that occurred in August 2016 which aims to be relevant to tax practitioners.[i] Compiled By F John…
The AAT has affirmed the Tax Practitioners Board’s ruling that an applicant had not successfully completed a course in basic GST/BAS taxation principles that was approved by the Board thereby denying him eligibility for registration as a BAS agent. The applicant lodged an application online for registration as a BAS agent and stated that he had…
The District Court of Queensland has allowed the appeal of the director and controller of a company from a decision of a Magistrate in which she pleaded guilty to 7 offences for failing to lodge income tax returns and 31 offences for failing to lodge GST returns for which she was fined $10,000 and $30,000,…
The High Court has granted the taxpayer special leave to appeal against the Full Federal Court decision in FCT v ElecNet (Aust) Pty Ltd (Trustee) [2015] FCAFC 178. The Full Federal Court had unanimously allowed the Commissioner’s appeal and held that an “industry severance trust scheme” for electrical workers was not a “unit trust” for the purposes of Div 6C…
On 29 July 2016, the ATO issued Decision Impact Statement on the decision in FCT v Donoghue [2015] FCAFC 183, which reversed the decisions of Logan J in Donoghue v FCT [2015] FCA 235 and Donoghue v FCT [2015] FCA 291. This statement outlines the ATO’s response to this case, which involved the ATO using privileged documents, from a third party, without the use of…
On 29 July the ATO said that six search warrants were executed yesterday (Thurs 28 July 2016) as part of a cross-agency investigation into alleged illegal ‘phoenix’ activity on the Gold Coast. The operation stems from the work of the members of the multi-agency Phoenix Taskforce who are collaborating to help stamp out illegal phoenix…
A taxpayer has appealed to the Federal Court against the decision of the AAT in Re Rowntree and FCT [2016] AATA 420. The matter was complex but resulted in alleged loans of over $4m being made by various companies (directly or indirectly) to a taxpayer. The AAT affirmed the Commissioner’s objection decision, that$3m of the payments were…
On Wed 27.7.2016, the ATO issued the Class Ruling CR 2016/55 (Searoad Ferries Early Retirement Scheme). It applies from 27 July 2016 to 30 September 2016. [LTN 143, 27/7/16] Extract from Class Ruling Scheme 9. The Company operates the Sorrento-Queenscliff vehicle and passenger ferry service. In 2011, the Company began to fundamentally change its business from being a public transport service…