The OECD final BEPS Report and Action Plan is back in the headlines and it is worth recounting what the Treasurer said about them at the time (on 6 October 2015). _____________________ The overnight release of the OECD’s Final Report on the Base Erosion and Profit Shifting (BEPS) Action Plan shows that Australia is firmly…
On 10 February 2016 the Treasurer introduced Tax and Superannuation Laws Amendment (2016 Measures No.1) Bill 2016 into Parliament. The Explanatory Memorandum to the Bill can be accessed here. The Bill contains measures initially flagged in the Budget. The measures have been the subject of a detailed consultation process and two forms of Exposure Draft have been published for…
The purpose of the new ruling is to assist taxpayers in understanding the meaning of the phrase ‘alteration, extension or improvement’ in the context of Division 43 of the Income Tax Assessment Act 1997 (ITAA 1997) to enable a taxpayer to determine whether there is an extension, alteration or improvement for the purposes of the capital works…
On 3 December 2015 the Senate amended the Tax Laws Amendment (Combating Multinational Tax Avoidance) Bill 2015 to require corporate tax entities that are significant global entities to give the Commissioner a general purpose financial statement if they do not lodge one with the Australian Securities and Investments Commission (ASIC). The financial statement must be for the…
At a Senate Economics Legislation Committee hearing on 10 February 2016, the Commissioner delivered his opening remarks highlighting the ATO’s efforts to tackle tax avoidance by large corporates. Mr Jordan said the majority of large corporates, especially Australian owned companies, pay the right amount of tax; however, he said there was a minority of large corporates who try to avoid…
The Federal Court has imposed over $80,000 in penalties on an individual and her company after they admitted to breaches of the Tax Agent Services Act 2009 by providing and advertising tax agent services whilst unregistered. Between July and December 2010, the individual provided tax agent services on 7 occasions, receiving around $1,000 for her work. From January 2011 to August 2013, the company provided…
The AAT has ruled that, for the purposes of working out whether a taxpayer satisfied the $6m maximum net asset value (MNAV) test, the “market value” of shares that he sold was not the actual selling price of the shares, even though the shares were sold in an arm’s length dealing. Instead, the AAT accepted…
The Commissioner has Gazetted a notice that he will acquire details of insurance policies for certain classes of assets, including marine vessels, enthusiast motor vehicles, thoroughbred horses, fine art and aircraft where the value exceeds nominated thresholds for the 2013-14 and 2014-15 financial years. The ATO said it will obtain policy holder identification details (names, addresses, phone…
The ATO, on Mon 15.2.2016, issued Draft Law Companion Guideline LCG 2016/D1 (GST and carrying on an enterprise in the indirect tax zone (Australia)). It describes how the Commissioner plans to apply the proposed new GST test for carrying on an enterprise in the indirect tax zone (ie Australia). This test is contained in the Tax and Superannuation…
The Federal Court has denied a taxpayer a refund of $452,452,013 which had been withheld as dividend withholding tax from the consideration paid to the taxpayer for its shares in Optus. The dispute concerned an amount of $3.9 billion debited to an account described as a “buyback reserve account” in the ledger of Cable &…