On Wednesday, 13 November 2019, the High Court rejected the appeal, of two cases of ‘cuckoo-smurfing’. The Australian Federal Police (AFP) were granted orders under s 19 of the Proceeds of Crime Act 2002 (POC Act) restraining any dealing with the bank accounts. The appellants applied to have their interest in the bank accounts excluded from the…
On 12 November 2019, the AAT denied a taxpayer’s claims for $72,000 in work-related car expenses and $34,000 in work-related home office and other expenses, on the basis that they were not relevantly ‘substantiated’. See below for a summary of the case. [Tax Month – November 2019]
On 14 November 2019, the Australian Financial Review published an article by Political Reporter: Tom McIlroy, entitled: Employers face FBT hit on staff car parking – which is about penalty parking rates on which employer might have to pay FBT, after the Commissioner proposes to change his ruling. See related Tax Technical article. See below for…
On 13 November 2019, the ATO issued TR 2019/D5 – dealing with FBT on employer provided car parking. It replaces TR 96/26, after the 2010 Virgin Blue Airlines and the 2014 Qantas Airways cases – making several changes. See related Tax Technical article. See below for a summary. [Tax Month – November 2019]
On 11 Nov 2019, the Australian Financial Review published an article by Political Reporter: Tom McIlroy, entitled: Victoria fights High Court challenge to vehicle stamp duty. This is a reference to s86 of the Constitution of Australia, that reserves the power to levy ‘duties of customs and of excise’ exclusively to the Commonwealth of Australia.…
On 11 November 2019, the Australian Financial Review published an article, by Political Reporter: Tom McIlroy, entitled Tax inspector wants tougher whistleblower protections. This is ‘whistleblower’ relief for ATO officers, wanting to disclose what they think is mis-practice within the ATO. See below for the article. [Tax Month – November 2019]
On 31 October 2019, the ATO released TR 2019/2, which covers its concerns with unit trust arrangements, that purport to avoid CGT on transactions that eventually pass ownership of an asset, to a third party, without an CGT, by exploiting the subdivision 126-G restructure rollover. See below for further details. [Tax Month – November 2019]
On 14 Nov 2019, Parliament passed legislation to give effect to the new Australia-Israel Double Tax Agreement, and introduce a new Div 764 into our Domestic law, for DTA purposes. See below for a summary of the Bill (as passed). [Tax Month – November 2019]
On Thursday 14.11.19, Treasury released a draft ‘Guidance Note’ for potential applicants, to the Federal Treasurer, for the economic infrastructure staples tax concession. Comments are due by 17 Jan 2020. See below for a summary of this concession and the consultation. FJM 17.19 [Tax Month – November 2019] The concession provides one of the exceptions, to…
On 13 Nov 2019, Treasury released an ‘exposure draft’ of legislation the extend the definition of ‘Significant Global Entity’ (calling for comments by 11 December 2019). The SGE definition not only sucks big companies, into its onerous vortex, but every member of its Group, some of which can be small, and unaware of these extended…