From 1 July 2015, car expense deductions for individuals were simplified. If you have clients who pay their employees a car allowance, remind them they need to withhold tax on the amount they pay over 66c per kilometre. If they haven’t been doing this, they should start now to avoid their employees having a tax…
On 18 January 2016, the ATO posted this on their website. The ATO is working with insurance providers to identify policy owners on a wider range of asset classes. These include: marine; aviation; enthusiast motor vehicles; fine art and thoroughbred horses. This will provide the ATO with a more accurate estimate of taxpayers’ wealth, help…
On 21 January 2016, the ATO advised the Dispute Resolution Working Group members of the results of the ‘reinvention’ of the Test Case Litigation Program. It said, that in the last 12 months they have: Reduced our test case funding criteria from three criteria and 9 guiding principles to 1 criterion and 5 expectations Introduced…
On 22 January 2016, the Commissioner of Taxation (as the Registrar of the Australian Business Register or ABR) announced he will begin cancelling the ABNs of approximately 220,000 trusts, where there is evidence they are no longer carrying on an enterprise. Trust ABNs will be cancelled in February, where information available indicates that for the…
Two taxpayers have appealed to the Federal Court against the decision in Re Crown Estates (Sales) Pty Ltd and FCT [2015] AATA 949. The AAT found the 2 taxpayers who conducted a property management business were not entitled to input tax credits (ITCs) in relation to goods and services supplied to their clients (the property…
The ATO recently agreed to settle with eligible inbound tour operators (ITOs) that have treated their margins as being subject to GST. An ITO is not obliged to take up the offer. The settlement offer If you are an eligible ITO and you want to take up the offer: The ATO will pay 75% of…
On Wednesday 13.1.2016, the ATO issued a Draft Addendum to GST Ruling GSTR 2012/3 on the GST certain services in a ‘serviced apartment’ in retirement villages under s38-25 of the A New Tax System (Goods and Services Tax) Act 1999 (‘GST Act’). The Draft would GSTR 2012/3 to broaden the Commissioner’s view on the meaning…
On Wed 27.1.2016, the ATO issued GST Determination GSTD 2016/1 on whether employers can claim input tax credits (ITCs) for expenses paid on behalf of superannuation funds. The Determination notes that an employer may, for “administrative convenience”, pay expenses on behalf of a fund, with the payment being re-classified as a superannuation contribution in the…
The taxpayer has appealed to the Federal Court against the decision in Re Ward and FCT [2015] AATA 919. In that the decision, the AAT agreed with the Commissioner that there were no “special circumstances” under s 292-465 of the ITAA 1997 to disregard or re-allocate the taxpayer’s excess non-concessional contributions for a year, despite the…
Accountants providing advice on self-managed super funds (SMSFs) will have to be appropriately licensed, under the AFS Licensing framework, before July 1 2016. ASIC recently set a ‘soft’ deadline for limited AFSL applications – stating that accountants who lodge their applications after 1 March 2016 run a “significant risk’ of not being assessed by the…