The ATO on Wed 12.2.2014, released the following Class Rulings: CR 2014/16: Downer EDI Limited Long Term Incentive Plan. It applies from 1 July 2013. Broadly, the Ruling states that the rights acquired under the plan are ESS interests for the purposes of s 83A-340 of the ITAA 1997 and that no amount will be included in the…
The ATO on Wed 5.2.2014, issued Class Ruling CR 2014/15 (Format of mobile phone receipt as evidence for donations to Vision Australia Ltd via SMS). It applies from 1 February 2014 until 30 June 2019. The Ruling states the Commissioner accepts the mobile invoice as satisfying the requirements under s 30-228 of the ITAA 1997 provided the receipt identifies the…
This TD, released on Wed 26.2.2014, states broadly the Commissioner’s view that a dividend access share arrangement of the type described in the Determination is a scheme “by way of dividend stripping” or “in the nature of dividend stripping” within the meaning of s 177E of Pt IVA of the ITAA 1936. As a consequence, it…
The ATO on Tue 4.2.2014, issued a Decision Impact Statement on the Full Federal Court’s decision in Parliamentary Trustee of the Parliamentary Contributory Superannuation Fund v FCT [2013] FCAFC 127. In that case, the Full Court upheld the constitutional validity of superannuation contributions surcharge tax assessments under the Superannuation Contributions Tax (Assessment and Collection) Act 1997…
The defendant has lodged an appeal to the WA Court of Appeal against the decision of McKechnie J in Palermo v Palermo [No 2] [2014] WASC 6. In that case, the WA Supreme Court had held that 2 brothers, who conducted an accounting practice and other businesses, were not in partnership. The defendant in the matter…
The Qld District Court has removed a sentence previously imposed on a man for non-lodgment of returns after finding there were “extenuating circumstances” allowing the discretion. The District Court heard the man pleaded guilty to 4 charges against the TAA for failing to lodge income tax returns for the 2006, 2007, 2009, and 2010 financial…
The Federal Court has dismissed the taxpayers’ appeal from the decision in AAT Case [2013] AATA 112 in which the AAT found the taxpayers had failed to discharge the burden of proving that assessments raised by the Commissioner were excessive. The assessments were in respect of $20m deposited into the personal bank account of the…
The Federal Court has held that a resident taxpayer, who was entitled to a deferred payment over 5 years of USid=”mce_marker”60m following his retirement from a global international commodity trading businesses, was assessable on the payment as ordinary income in the income year in which the right to the payment arose. The payment to the taxpayer was…
The Federal Court has held that, where an assessment has not been issued, s 254 of the ITAA 1936 does not require retention of monies by a liquidator upon the mere happening of a CGT event (ie a disposal of property) and payment of those monies to the ATO. The taxpayer company had been placed into…
The Federal Court has dismissed a taxpayer’s appeal from the decision in AAT Case [2012] AATA 579, Re Nelson and FCT in which the AAT confirmed the taxpayer was not carrying on a business of primary production during the 2004-2009 years of income on a 500 acre property in Queensland he purchased and that therefore…