At its meeting on Tue 5.3.2013, the Reserve Bank Board decided to leave the official cash rate unchanged at 3%. The Board said “with inflation likely to be consistent with the target, and with growth likely to be a little below trend over the coming year, an accommodative stance of monetary policy is appropriate”. It…
Following the OECD’s 2011 report Corporate Loss Utilisation through Aggressive Tax Planning, the OECD released on 13 March 2013 a new report Aggressive Tax Planning Based on After-Tax Hedging. It describes the features of Aggressive Tax Planning (ATP) schemes based on after-tax hedging as well as the strategies used to detect and respond to those schemes. The…
The Department of Finance and Deregulation, through the Australian Government Information Management Office, has released a draft version of its Big Data Strategy Issues Paper for public consultation. The aim of the strategy is to “highlight key opportunities and challenges that big data will bring to government agencies” and “to assist agencies to take advantage…
A new survey conducted by Deloitte Australia and international legal practice Norton Rose has found the tax consequences of issuing share options to employees are so burdensome that, although 94% of companies think employee share options are a valuable way to incentivise employees, only around 1 in 3 companies (37%) had actually issued share options…
The Government has advised that a pilot program which matched Centrelink records against eBay users would become a permanent part of its compliance system from May this year. The Government reported that the program identified some people were claiming social security payments while running what it considered to be a successful online business. It said the program…
The Corporations Amendment (Simple Corporate Bonds and Other Measures) Bill 2013 was introduced into the House Reps this on Wed 20.3.2013, to give effect to the Government’s proposal to restrict the use of the terms “financial planner” and “financial adviser” to support the FoFA reforms. The Bill proposes to amend the Corporations Act 2001 to…
The UK Chancellor of the Exchequer, George Osborne, delivered the 2013-14 Budget on 20 March 2013. Key points include: reducing the main rate of corporation tax to 20%. making the first £10,000 of people’s income free from income tax a year ahead of schedule – the personal allowance will be increased by £560 to £10,000 in 2014-15;…
The Minister for Climate Change and Energy Efficiency, Greg Combet, Tue 26.3.2013, announced the appointment of former Tax Commissioner Michael D’Ascenzo AO to the Clean Energy Regulator from 2 April 2013. The Minister said Mr D’Ascenzo is recognised internationally for his leadership and expertise in tax administration and governance as well as his technical and design skills…
New Victorian Premier Denis Napthine has announced his new cabinet line-up after taking over from Ted Baillieu last week. Michael O’Brien has been announced as Victoria’s new Treasurer, replacing Kim Wells who takes over the Police portfolio. Source: Victorian Premier’s media release, 13 March 2013 [LTN 49, 13/3/13]
The Qld Office of State Revenue (OSR) has issued the following new harmonised Public Rulings: PTA021 – Exemption for contractors ordinarily rendering services to the public; PTA022 – Contractors – services not ordinarily required; and PTA028 – Employment agency contracts — workers on-hired to government. The Rulings have effect from 1 July 2008. [LTN 41, 1/3/13]