The Inspector-General of Taxation (IGT), Mr Ali Noroozi, on Thur 22.11.2012, announced terms of reference for his review into the ATO’s administration of penalties and called for stakeholder submissions. “Concerns with the ATO’s administration of penalties have persisted over a number of years. Given the level of concerns raised with me by individual and business…
The Inspector-General of Taxation (IGT), Mr Ali Noroozi, on Tues 20.11.2012, announced terms of reference for 3 reviews relating to the ATO’s compliance approaches to individual taxpayers. The three areas for review are: The ATO’s income tax refund integrity program – this review will consider the efficiency and transparency of the integrity program and whether…
The Government on Tue 27.11.2012, announced the appointment of Mrs Teresa Dyson as Chair of the Board of Taxation. Mrs Dyson will be appointed part-time for a 2-year period and will start in January 2013. Mrs Dyson will replace the current Chair of the Board, Mr Chris Jordan AO, who has recently been appointed as the Commissioner of…
The due date for the report by the Senate Economics Legislation Committee on the Minerals Resource Rent Tax Amendment (Protecting Revenue) Bill 2012 has been extended to 21 March 2013. The Bill had been introduced into the Senate on 12 September 2012 by the Greens. Its stated purpose is to “protect the revenue generated from the Minerals Resource Rent…
The package of Bills to, among other things, link Australia’s carbon pricing mechanism to overseas emissions trading schemes from 1 July 2015, and to remove the price floor for carbon units by removing the surrender charge on eligible international emissions units and the requirement for a minimum auction reserve price, have passed all stages and await Assent.…
APRA has released a response paper and 11 final prudential standards for the superannuation industry. According to APRA, submissions received were unanimously supportive of APRA’s objectives and the broad direction of the draft prudential standards released in April 2012. In addition, APRA said it expects to release a suite of prudential practice guides for consultation…
The ATO on Thur 15.11.2012, warned directors that under new laws, they are personally liable for their company’s unpaid super guarantee charge [in certain circumstances]. The new laws took effect on 29 June 2012 and were implemented by the Tax Laws Amendment (2012 Measures No 2) Act 2012. The ATO said companies have 2 weeks…
The Superannuation Complaints Tribunal Annual Report 2011-12 has been released. Highlights from the report include: Complaints received increased by 6.5% during the year to 2,619. Complaints relating to administration of superannuation (delays in rollovers and benefit payments, inaccurate benefit statements, complaints about the calculation of benefits and calculation of returns, and complaints about disclosure) continued…
ASIC has advised auditors seeking to be registered as “approved SMSF auditors” to apply to ASIC by 30 April 2013 to ensure their application can be processed by 1 July 2013. From that time, an auditor will need to be registered with ASIC as an approved SMSF auditor to conduct audits of self-managed superannuation funds…
The ATO on Fri 23.11.2012, issued Decision Impact Statements on the following: AAT Case [2012] AATA 634, Re Sinclair and FCT – In that case, the AAT upheld the Commissioner’s decision to include a superannuation benefit in a taxpayer’s assessable income under s 304-10 of the ITAA 1997 on the grounds that it was withdrawn in…