Daily Archives: May 13, 2018

Exemption from ‘at least part-time’ Work test for member and employer contributions – for first year the 65-74 year old fails the test, if balance under $300k

In the 2018 Federal Budget, the Government announced it will introduce a measure designed to give recent retirees flexibility to get their financial affairs in order in the transition to retirement. In essence, this means a year when they can still make contributions, even if they are no longer working ‘at least part-time’. This exemption will…

GST – turnover on selling Australian hotel rooms now counts again for registering for GST – ‘levelling the playing field’ for online bookings

In the 2018 Federal Budget, the Government announced it will extend the GST, by ensuring that offshore sellers of hotel accommodation, in Australia, calculate their GST turnover, in the same way as local sellers. This will be from 1 July 2019. Currently, unlike GST-registered businesses in Australia, offshore sellers, of Australian hotel accommodation, are exempt from…

Managed Investment Trusts (MITs) – 56 countries added to the list entitled to the lower 15% withholding rate (new information sharing countries since 2012)

In the 2018 Federal Budget, the Government announced it will update the list of countries whose residents are eligible to access a reduced withholding tax rate, of 15 per cent, instead of the default rate of 30 per cent, on certain distributions from Australian Managed Investment Trusts (MITs). Listed countries are those which have established…

Significant Global Entity’ – change to definition – same $1b global turnover but wider group of ‘parent entities’ that can establish the ‘global’ group

In the 2018 Federal Budget, the Government announced it will broaden the definition of a large multinational (or significant global entity (SGE)) to ensure that Australia’s multinational tax integrity rules operate as intended. The SGE definition identifies entities which are required to prepare Country-by-Country (CbC) reports and is used to determine entities which may be…

Ban on cash payments over $10,000 to counter the ‘black economy’ – Federal Budget measure

In the 2018 Federal Budget, the Government announced it will introduce a limit of $10,000 for cash payments made to businesses for goods and services from 1 July 2019. As part of implementation the Government will consult on the detail of this measure. Currently, large undocumented cash payments can be used to avoid tax or…

$20,000 instant asset write-off extended by another 12 months, to 30 June 2019

In the 2018/19 Federal Budget the Government announced it will extend the $100% write-off depreciation write-off, by a further 12 months, to 30 June 2019. This is for ‘small business entities’ with aggregated annual turnover less than $10 million (s328-110 of the ITAA97). The $20k instant asset write-off, was first announced in the 2015-16 Federal Budget.…