The Government introduced Treasury Laws Amendment (Personal Income Tax Plan) Bill 2018 on 10 May 2018, one day after the 2018/19 Federal Budget. This is to give effect to the income tax changes for individuals, announced in the Budget. On 21 June 2018, it passed, all stages, and received Royal Assent as Act No. 47. Earlier, on 10…
At a Senate Estimates hearing on 30 May 2018, Neil Olesen, ATO Second Commissioner, Client Engagement Group. With regard to the Panama Papers (the first leak); he said: the ATO had completed 315 reviews or audits as part of its Panama Papers investigations. He said the ATO still had another 81 that are in progress and that…
The NSW Supreme Court has dismissed a taxpayer’s application for review of 2 decisions by the Chief Commissioner of State Revenue. The taxpayer applied for a private ruling on the question of whether the Commissioner would be satisfied that the transfer of 75,000 shares would be an exempt acquisition under s 163H(3)of the Duties Act 1997(NSW). This…
It is inevitable that a new second Australian Taxation Office commissioner will be appointed to hear taxpayers’ appeals, Inspector-General of Taxation Ali Noroozi says. On Tuesday Mr Noroozi told Senate Estimates complaints had increased following the joint Fairfax Media-ABC investigation into the ATO. His office acts as a watchdog over the ATO and also hears individual and small business complaints…
Superannuation Guarantee Amnesty From Ashurst Newsletter (Geoff Mann) The federal government announced a 12 month Superannuation Guarantee Amnesty (the Amnesty) on 24 May 2018. It also introduced a bill giving effect to the Amnesty, the Treasury Laws Amendment (2018 Superannuation Measures No 1) Bill 2018 (the Bill). This will insert a new s74 into the SGC…
Tax planning toolkit for 30 June 2018 (Pitcher Partners By – Alexis Kokkinos – June 12, 2018) The 30 June 2018 year-end is fast approaching. To assist with your year-end tax planning, Pitcher Partners has prepared a comprehensive year-end tax planning toolkit. The 60+ page booklet is a checklist of over 200 year-end tax planning considerations for…
On Wed 13.6.2018, the ATO issued Draft Taxation Determination TD 2018/D2 on what constitutes a “use” (and potentially first use) of a mining, quarrying or prospecting right. An outright deduction is available for the cost of such a right if the requirements in s40-80(1) ITAA97 are satisfied. A key requirement is that the first use…
On 12 June 2018, the Queensland Treasurer, Jackie Trad, delivered the 2018-19 Queensland State Budget. The Queensland Government has described this Budget as a budget for creating jobs and delivering infrastructure for the fastest growing population in Australia. Further, in the spirit of the jobs economy, the Queensland Government has committed to extending: the 50 percent…
On 1 May 2018, the Victorian Treasurer introduced the State Taxation Acts Amendment Bill 2018 into Parliament. Amongst other proposed amendments, there are some noteworthy changes to the Duties Act 2000 (Vic). The Bill passed all stages on 5 June 2018 and received Royal Assent 8 days later on 13 June 2018. The Royal Assent…
The ATO has released the ‘General Interest Charge’ (GIC) and Shortfall Interest Charge (SIC) percentages for the first quarter of 2018-19, ie July to September 2018: GIC annual rate – 8.96% GIC daily rate – 0.02454794% SIC annual rate – 4.96% SIC daily rate – 0.01358904% FJM 12.6.18 [ATO website: GIC, SIC; LTN 106, 5/6/18; Tax Month – June…