The Government Tue 23.9.2014 released draft legislation to give effect to minor amendments to the operation of the CGT provisions in the ITAA 1997. In particular, the proposed changes seek to ensure a CGT exemption is available to trustees and beneficiaries who receive compensation or damages for certain insurance policies. It is intended that trustees…
This Draft GST Ruling, issued on Wed 24.9.2014, explains the Commissioner’s view on the meaning of the terms “passed on” and “reimburse” for the purposes of determining whether s 142-10 of the GST Act applies to an amount of excess GST. It says generally, Div 142 operates so that an entity would not be entitled to a…
An individual has been unsuccessful before the AAT in seeking to have standing and authority to act on behalf of another entity (the taxpayer). The matter related to the Commissioner’s refusal to allow a claim made by the taxpayer as trustee of a trust for input tax credits for creditable acquisitions of $3.15m for the…
The ATO has issued a Decision Impact Statement on AAT Case [2014] AATA 363, Re North Sydney Developments Pty Ltd and FCT. In this case, the AAT held the taxpayer’s letter of 3 September 2009, to the Commissioner, satisfied the “notification” requirement in s 105-55 of Sch 1 to the TAA, thereby extending the 4-year time limit in that…
In March 2014, the Commonwealth agreed to a request from the States collectively to further explore options around lowering the value at which GST is applied to the importation of goods into Australia. Currently, the threshold is id=”mce_marker”,000. On 19 September 2014, ahead of the G20 meeting in Cairns, the Treasurer met with State and Territory Treasurers. He said…
The Australian Crime Commission (ACC) has announced that Australia’s outlaw motorcycle gangs will be put under the microscope of a new multi-agency task force targeting the highest risk groups and their members. The national task force, named Operation Morpheus, has been created by the Serious and Organised Crime Coordination Committee (SOCCC) to continue and expand…
The ATO has launched voice authentication to help callers to the ATO to save time on the phone with the ATO. The ATO receives around 8m calls per year and for around 75% of these calls, it requires the caller to verify their identity. Australians contacting the ATO by phone will now be given the…
In the House of Reps on Thur 4.9.2014, the Treasurer made a ministerial statement on G20-OECD tax and transparency. In relation to multinational businesses that have set up sophisticated arrangements to avoid Australian tax, Mr Hockey said this was “patently unfair – unfair on the Australian taxpayer and unfair on local businesses that are doing…
ATO Deputy Commissioner, Mark Konza, has delivered a speech providing an insight into the base erosion and profit shifting (BEPS) Action Items that were discussed at the recent G20 Finance Ministers meeting held in Cairns. In particular, Mr Konza focused on the implications of the proposals, the ATO’s priorities and strategy, and the compliance action…
The Tax Office has advised that the General Interest Charge (GIC) and Shortfall Interest Charge (SIC) rates for the 2nd quarter of the 2014-15 financial year (ie 1 October 2014 to 31 December 2014) are as follows: GIC annual rate is 9.63%; GIC daily compounding rate is 0.02638356%; SIC annual rate is 5.63%; SIC daily compounding rate is 0.01542466%…