The Chair of the Board of Taxation, Mrs Teresa Dyson, on Mon 16.12.2013 announced that the Board had released a discussion paper and was inviting written submissions to assist in its Review of the Thin Capitalisation Arm’s Length Debt Test in Div 820 of the ITAA 1997. Further information is on the Board’s website. The review…
The Charities Act 2013 adds reconciliation, human rights, culture, the environment and more to the list of purposes that are considered charitable. The new Act recognises that many modern organisations advance causes through education, research and awareness-raising and prevention. It also clarifies the law on charities and native title. In addition, it protects charities’ right…
The Charities Act 2013 defines “charity” and “charitable purpose” for the purposes of all Commonwealth legislation, including taxation legislation. The Government amendments made by the House of Reps on Wed 4.12.2013 to the Social Services and Other Legislation Amendment Bill 2013 introduced new provisions to the Bill that would delay the commencement of the Charities…
The Australian Charities and Not-for-profits Commission (ACNC) Tue 3.12.2103, marked one year since its establishment with a look back at its first 12 months as the independent regulator of charities. ACNC Commissioner, Susan Pascoe AM said that in the ACNC’s first year, 2,856 organisations had applied to be registered as charities, and 1,748 new charities…
The Senate Economics Legislation Committee has recommended that the Minerals Resource Rent Tax Repeal and Other Measures Bill 2013 be passed by the Senate. The Committee also recommended that: (i) the Government revisit certain measures in the Bill, in particular incentives in superannuation for low income earners and taxation issues affecting small business, “once…
The Senate Environment and Communications Legislation Committee has recommended that the Clean Energy Legislation (Carbon Tax Repeal) Bill 2013 and related bills be passed by the Senate. Its report was tabled Mon 2.12.2013, in the Senate. The committee also agreed with the intention of the amending legislation to abolish the Clean Energy Finance Corporation and…
The ATO has issued Self Managed Superannuation Funds: A Statistical Overview 2011-12. The ATO reported that as at 30 June 2013, there were 509,000 SMSFs holding $506bn in assets. There were also approximately 964,000 members in the SMSF sector, almost 8% of roughly 11.6m members in Australian super funds. The ATO said the number of SMSFs has increased by…
The ATO has reminded newly registered SMSFs that their annual return for 2013 is due on 28 February 2014. It says an audit report will need to be completed so that the annual return can be lodged on time. For newly registered funds that do not have any assets set aside for the benefit of their members…
This Draft Ruling, released on Wed 4.12.2013, considers apportionment, for the purposes of s 8-1 of the ITAA 1997, of a loss or outgoing incurred by a superannuation entity partly in gaining or producing assessable income and partly in gaining or producing non-assessable income. The Draft Ruling states that an expense incurred by a superannuation entity…
The taxpayers have lodged a notice of appeal to the Full Federal Court against the decision of Siopis J in Albrecht & Ors v FCT [2013] FCA 1248. In a test case funded by the ATO, the Federal Court had upheld the constitutional validity of superannuation contributions surcharge tax assessments issued to commissioned officers of the…