Monthly Archives: February 2017

*SMSFs – related party limited recourse borrowing arrangements on non-commercial terms could give rise to Non-Arms length Income (‘NALI’) [55]

The ATO said it continues to receive private binding ruling requests about whether related party limited recourse borrowing arrangements (LRBAs) give rise to non-arm’s length income (NALI). Following industry consultation, on 12 December 2014, the ATO issued ATO ID 2014/39 and ATO ID 2014/40. The IDs set out the ATO’s view that the NALI provisions apply to…

*DCT v Lyons Monetary penalties for breach of SMSF rules – sole purpose test, in-house assets test, etc [54]

The Federal Court has ordered that a trustee of a self-managed super fund (SMSF) pay a monetary penalty of $32,500 for contraventions of the SIS Act relating to the making of 6 loans to a relative of a member of the fund. The Court noted the parties jointly submitted that the trustee pay a monetary…

*Pass-through of super contributions data; ADF tax exemption – reg made [53]

The Tax and Superannuation Laws Amendment (2014 Measures No 4) Regulation 2014 was registered on Tue 16.12.2014. It amends the Superannuation Industry (Supervision) Regulations 1994 and Income Tax Regulations 1936 to: (i)      allow employers to deliver all of their superannuation contributions data to a single location, and (ii)     to provide tax exemption for…

*GSTR 2014/2 GST treatment of ATM fees and surcharges to cover credit and debit card fees [52]

This GST Ruling GSTR 2014/2 was issued on Wed 17.12.2014 and outlines the GST treatment of: fees payable for ATM services; surcharges imposed on credit card transactions; and surcharges imposed on debit card transactions. It was previously issued as Draft GSTR 2014/D2 and contains changes. DATE OF EFFECT: Applies both before and after its date…

GST Recipient Created Tax Invoice (RCTI) Determination amended – to allow for one training program provider closing in favour of a new one [50]

The Goods and Services Tax: Classes of Recipient Created Tax Invoice Amendment Determination (No 1) 2014 was registered on 9 December 2014. It amends the Goods and Services Tax: Classes of Recipient Created Tax Invoice Determination (No 1) 2012 to take into account the closure of General Practice Education and Training Limited (GPET) on 31 December 2014 and its…

*Motor vehicle registries: ATO data matching program [49]

The ATO has advised that it will acquire details of entities from State and Territory motor vehicle registries for the 2013-14, 2014-15 and 2015-16 financial years. The program will obtain data from the registries for each of the financial years where motor vehicles were sold/transferred or newly registered and the transfer and/or market value is…

*GIC and SIC rates for Jan-Mar 2015 quarter [48]

The Tax Office has advised that the General Interest Charge (GIC) and Shortfall Interest Charge (SIC) rates for the 3rd quarter of the 2014-15 financial year (ie 1 January 2015 to 31 March 2015) are as follows: GIC annual rate is 9.75% [‘base rate’ of 2.75% + 7%]; GIC daily compounding rate is 0.02671233%; SIC annual rate is 5.75%…

Private health insurance rebate – double claims: ATO amended assessments [47]

The ATO says it regularly matches data with health insurers to identify taxpayers who received the private health insurance (PHI) rebate through reduced premiums and have claimed them in their income tax return. When this double claim occurs, the ATO says it automatically amends their assessment to remove the rebate. The ATO says it has…

ATO rental property review letters made clearer [46]

The ATO says it has redeveloped the letters it sends to tax practitioners and their clients regarding reviews of rental, legal and/or borrowing expense claims. Following feedback, the ATO says it will provide information on specific expense claims it is reviewing. It says the re-drafted letters will now identify: return label and amounts in question;…

Tax obligations of tax agents: ATO compliance action [45]

The ATO says it recently undertook lodgment compliance action against several tax agents who incorrectly advised they had no requirement to lodge personal or business tax returns. The ATO says these tax agents were running active businesses, lodging significant numbers of returns for clients. The ATO notes that registered agents who fail to comply with…