On 9 February 2020 the High Court held that an individual was the employee of a labour hire company (not a contractor, as described in his contract with that company). However the High Court did this on a basis that could be described as seismic, when it comes to the ’employee’ v’s ‘independent contractor’ definition…
On 11.2.22, the Tax Institute emailed members (in TaxVine 3) the views of their Senior Advocate: Robyn Jacobson, CTA, on the existing laws about the interlocking income tax and FBT treatment, of the costs of COVID-19 tests and the necessity of the recently announced changes to the law. They are to ensure the deductibility of…
Four years after suspending their guidelines relating to the allocation of profits of professional firms, the Australian Taxation Office (“ATO”) released PCG 2021/4 (“Guidelines”) setting out its revised compliance approach. The Guidelines provide for a “traffic light style” risk assessment framework containing three risk factors that allow certain professionals to self-assess their risk of ATO compliance…
The ATO has successfully appealed an AAT decision which had overturned the Commissioner’s disqualification of a trustee of a self-managed superannuation fund (SMSF). The AAT had affirmed a non-compliance notice given to the SMSF for multiple breaches of the SIS Act but set aside the ATO’s decision to disqualify the trustee under s126A of the…
On 8 February 2021, the Government announced that it would introduce specific legislation to ensure that the cost of Covid-19 Rapid Antigen Tests (RATs) would be both tax deductible (if work related) and FBT exempt for employers. The Prime Minister assumed it was deductible/FBT exempt on 22 December 2022, when defending the Government’s decision to…
The SMSF Association has released its 2022-23 Federal Budget submissions, including a call for the simplification of transfer balance caps (TBCs); the number of total super balance (TSB) thresholds to be reduced; indexation of key small business CGT concession thresholds; redrafting of the non-arm’s length expenditure (NALE) rules; compliance relief for minor breaches by non-geared…
The Corporate Collective Investment Vehicle Framework and Other Measures Bill 2021 was introduced in the House of Reps on 25 November 2021 proposing to introduce a corporate funds management vehicle to be taxed as an AMIT (a CCIV). It was promptly referred to a Senate Committee, which delivered its report on 3 February 2022. The recommendation was that Parliament…
The Tax Institute has made its submissions to the Government about what they ought address, in their 2022-23 Federal Budget. The Budget is currently scheduled to be handed down on 29 March 2022 (see this article about how this knits with the election cycle, and the chances of it being changed). The Institute gave the…
On 2 Feb 2022, the Financial Review posted an article by its Michael Read, titled ‘‘Inequitable’ and ‘unsustainable’: Call to cap super balances at $5m‘. This reported on a proposal by AIST, to cap superannuation balances at $5m (so balances can’t grow beyond this figure). The article is reproduced below. One of the…
The Australian Institute of Superannuation Trustees (AIST) issued a media release on 28 Jan 2022, saying it has recommended changes to the superannuation system to ensure all Australians benefit from the strong returns being achieved by super funds and to enhance the equity of the system. Budget Changes ASIST recommended, are outlined in its Pre-Budget…