Treasury Laws Amendment (Accelerated Depreciation for Small Business Entities) Bill 2018 – to extend the ‘Small Business Entity’ instant asset write-off, by 12 months, to 30 June 2019 – Senate Committee recommends passing Bill

The Treasury Laws Amendment (Accelerated Depreciation for Small Business Entities) Bill 2018 will extend the ‘Small Business Entity’ instant asset write-off by 12 months, from 30 June 2018, to 30 June 2019. The Bill was was introduced in the House of Reps  on 24 May 2018 and on 29 May 2018, the Senate Economics Legislation Committee…

Treasury Laws Amendment (Black Economy Taskforce Measures No. 1) Bill 2018 passes Lower House – introducing offences and penalties for ‘sales suppression tools’ and adding ‘cleaning’ and ‘courier’ payments as reportable to the ATO

On 30 May 2018, the Treasury Laws Amendment (Black Economy Taskforce Measures No. 1) Bill 2018 passed the House of Representatives, with one amendment, and now moves to the Senate for consideration. The Bill was introduced on 7 February 2018. Schedule 1 – sales suppression tools – of the Bill proposes to prohibit the production,…

Amazon – ‘geo-blocks’ Australians back to its (thinly stocked and uncompetitive) Australian hub rather than have the US pay Australian GST from 1 July 2018

The start of the new legislation, to force overseas suppliers, to pay Australian GST, on supplies of sub-$1,000 goods, to Australians, seems to have backfired, after Amazon announced (on 31.5.18) that it would subject Australian purchasers to a ‘geo-block’ – namely to redirect Australian purchasers, to its new Australian hub, which would pay the GST.…

Corporate tax avoidance – Senate committee releases final report – 13 recommendation after a 3.5 year torrid inquiry – legislation already fixed some problems

On 30 May 2018, the Senate Economics Reference Committee released a final 128 page report of its inquiry into corporate tax avoidance in Australia. The Committee’s hearings caused headlines as senior officers of major companies were grilled as to the tax structures (a bit like the current Banking Royal Commission, but the Australian revenue was…

SA: Transfer Duty – no duty on transfers of non-residential and non-primary production land executed on or after 1 July 2018 (replaced by 0.825% ad valorem registration fee)

Revenue SA reminded taxpayers, that transfers of ‘qualifying land‘ (non-residential or non-primary production land), were exempt from transfer duty, if executed on or after 1 July 2018. This is significant duty reform, from South Australia, and is the effect of  s105A(5) of the Stamp Duties Act 1923, which was inserted into this Act, in  2015,…

Taxation of Digital (Digitised) Economy – a round up of global developments with a ‘glimpse over the horizon’ at the direction of both direct and indirect taxes

The world is full of ‘Taxation of the Digital Economy’ material, but I saw a 1 hour ‘webcast’ by KPMG, on this subject, which I thought was very useful in that, it covered the fundamentals of the subject well, and gave good insight into the direction of future taxes, both direct and indirect. This is…