On 12 May 2021, The Private Health Insurance Amendment (Income Thresholds) Bill 2021 was introduced into the House of Reps on 12 May 2021, amongst other things freezing the income thresholds for the Private Health Insurance Rebate. See below for further details. [Tax Month – May 2021] The legislation will freeze the PHI income thresholds for…
On 3.5.21, the AAT handed down a decision substantially reducing the amount of work related expenses claimed by the taxpayer – business travel, protective clothing and internet/mobile costs. See below for further details. [Tax Month – May 2021] The facts were these. The taxpayer was a “Water Services Operator, Service Delivery” employed by…
On Thursday 6.5.21, the Government announced that it will provide a 30% Digital Games Tax Offset as part of its $1.2b Digital Economy Strategy to be unveiled in the 2021-22 Federal Budget. Details are available on the Government’s Digital Economy website. See below for further details. [Tax Month – May 2021] Digital Games Tax Offset…
You might think you know when the Commissioner is obliged, by law, to give you reasons for a decision he’s made, but you won’t know it as well as the Inspector-General and Tax Ombudsman (IGTO) have essayed, in the following article, they developed and published on the taxpayer’s right to receive reasons for decision from…
On Friday 7.5.21, The Tax Institute’s Director, Tax Policy and Technical: Andrew Mills, published a Report in their weekly TaxVine newsletter (#16), about the ‘work related expense’ debate – and in particular, a not new idea of having a standard deduction (set as high as $3,000 this time) with an option to claim higher deductions, if…
On 10 May 2021, the Treasurer announced that, as part of the 2021-22 Budget, the Morrison Government will allow small businesses to apply to the Administrative Appeals Tribunal (AAT) to pause or modify ATO debt recovery actions where the debt is being disputed in the AAT. See below for further details. [Tax Month – May…
The NSW Supreme Court has held that a taxpayer which acquired a group which operated a wind farm on leased land was liable to pay landholder duty. The case involved a consideration of ‘tenants fixtures’ and ‘net present value’ as a means of deterring the taxable value. See below for further details. [Tax Month –…
The Supreme Court of Victoria has held that land owned the University of Melbourne, and used to provide student accommodation, was exempt from land tax under an ‘charitable exemption’, despite the fact that the accommodation was provided by a ‘for profit’ student accommodation specialist, which leased the land for 38 years, paying a peppercorn rent,…
On 3 May 2021, the Treasurer announced further insolvency law reform involving how trusts are treated, the ‘insolvent trading safe-labour changes and a moratorium on collection actions whilst a scheme of arrangement is in force. It will also increase the size of the debt, that can trigger a ‘statutory demand’ for payment (on pain of…
In the lead up to the 11 May 2021 Federal Budget, the Treasurer announced that the current income tax rates would remain until 2024/25, when the ‘Stage 3’ extension of the 30% rate, would apply all the way up to $200,000. He also signalled that small scale brewers and distillers would have their excise cap…