The Government announced on Fri 14.12.2012, amendments to the Petroleum Resource Rent Tax (PRRT) law to provide certainty to industry following the Full Federal Court’s February 2012 decision in Esso Australia Resources Pty Ltd v FCT [2012] FCAFC 5. [The Court unanimously overturned a decision at first instance and held that Esso Australia Resources Pty Ltd was…
The SMSF Professionals’ Association of Australia (SPAA) has announced it will make available a Public Practice Certificate (PPC) to its SMSF Specialist Advisors and Auditors who are accountants. SPAA CEO Andrea Slattery said the PPC will be open to members holding a SSA and/or a SSAud designation, as well as meeting certain requirements such as…
The ATO on Mon 3.12.2012, released a Decision Impact Statement on AAT Case [2012] AATA 716, Re Yrorita and FCT. In that case, the AAT upheld the Commissioner’s decision to include a superannuation benefit in a taxpayer’s assessable income under former s 26AFB of the ITAA 1936 after finding that the taxpayer had attempted to evade…
The Full Federal Court has dismissed a taxpayer’s appeal seeking leave to raise a new point on appeal not raised before. The matter concerned a breach of undertaking by a SMSF. The main contention on the appeal by the taxpayer, raised for the first time, was that as a matter of proper statutory construction and…
The AAT has held that a taxpayer’s “mistaken belief” as to the timing of a superannuation contribution did not constitute “special circumstances” under s 292-465 of the ITAA 1997 to justify reallocating her excess concessional contributions to an earlier financial year. The taxpayer had started salary sacrificing in 2005 to build up her superannuation balance, which…
The Superannuation Industry (Supervision) Amendment Regulation 2012 (No 5) was registered on Tue 11.12.2012, to prescribe details to support the superannuation data and payment standards as part of the SuperStream reforms. The amendments to the SIS Regulations will require the Commissioner to establish a register of information about regulated super funds (other than SMSFs), including…
The Superannuation Industry (Supervision) Amendment Regulation 2012 (No 4) was registered on the Federal Register of Legislative Instruments Mon 10.12.2012. It amends the SIS regs to introduce a 12-month inactivity test for uncontactable (and therefore “lost”) members of a super fund. This is designed to clarify the amendments to the unclaimed monies legislation, ensuring that…
The Superannuation Industry (Supervision) Amendment Regulation 2012 (No 6) and the Superannuation Auditor Registration Imposition Regulation 2012 were registered on Tue 11.12.2012, setting out the details for the auditor registration regime for self-managed super funds (SMSFs). The regulations complement the approved SMSF auditor regime contained in the Superannuation Laws Amendment (Capital Gains Tax Relief and…
ASIC Mon 10.12.2012, released guidance to assist auditors of self managed superannuation funds (SMSF) register with ASIC. The guidance has been issued ahead of a new registration scheme for auditors to commence on 31 January 2013 as part of the Federal Government’s “Stronger Super” reforms. Regulatory Guide 243 Registration of self-managed superannuation fund auditors (RG 243) explains…
The Superannuation Legislation Amendment (Further MySuper and Transparency Measures) Bill 2012 received Royal Assent on 3 December 2012 as Act No 171 of 2012. The Bill is the third tranche of MySuper legislation and contains amendments relating to the transition of accrued default balances to MySuper by 1 July 2017, default funds in modern awards, superannuation fees, providing intra-fund…