On 3 October 2018, the Treasury Laws Amendment (Black Economy Taskforce Measures No. 1) Bill 2018 received Royal Assent as Act no. 121 of 2018. See the previous Tax Technical article about the Bill’s introduction to Parliament. Schedule 1 – sales suppression tools – of the Act prohibits the production, distribution and possession of sales suppression…
A majority of the Full Federal Court has dismissed the Commissioner’s appeal against an AAT decision allowing a $600k deduction, for expenditure on gaming machine entitlements (GMEs), allocated by the State of Victoria. The Court held that this expense was deductible under s8-1 of the ITAA97 or, in the alternative (if the expense was ‘capital’…
On 2 October 2018, the Government has released draft legislation to give eligible older Australians additional flexibility to contribute more into superannuation as they move into retirement – as announced in the 2018-19 Budget as part of the More Choices for a Longer Life package. Currently, there is a ‘work test’ hurdle, which is that individuals…
The Treasurer reported that the Council on Federal Financial Relations (CFFR) met in Melbourne on 3 October 2018. The ‘tampon tax’ will be removed – Significantly, he reported, there was unanimous agreement amongst the States to remove the GST on feminine hygiene products (the States and Territories are the beneficiaries of the GST revenue and have to…
On Tuesday 2.10.18, the Government released a discussion paper seeking views on options to strengthen the integrity of the corporate tax system, in the age of the digital economy. The Treasurer also noted (in his media release): the Government is concerned that some very profitable, highly digitalised companies pay very little tax in the countries…
Article in Australian Financial Review: 4 October 2018, by Tom McIlroy and Michael Smith. Canberra/Shanghai | Federal government plans to slug expats millions in capital gains tax if they sell their homes while living overseas could be at risk, amid growing concern from Labor and Senate cross-benchers. [See related Tax Technical article about the…
T a x T e c h n i c a l – M o n t h l y N e w s – October 2018 Developments – This is a collection of developments in Australian tax law and practice that occurred in October 2018 which aims to be relevant to tax practitioners.[i] Compiled By F…
The Supreme Court of Victoria has dismissed the Commissioner of State Revenue’s appeal and found that distributions to Optometrist Entities were not “payments” within the meaning of the payroll tax acts because the Optometrist Entities beneficially owned the funds which were to be distributed to them under the respective express trusts. The Optical Superstore Pty…
The High Court has refused Sandini’s application for special leave to appeal from the decision of the Full Federal Court in Ellison v Sandini Pty Ltd [2018] FCAFC 44. The Full Federal Court had held that that Sandini was not entitled to s 126-5 (marriage breakdown roll-over relief), by operation of s 126-15, because: the 21 September 2010 orders…
The Federal Court has confirmed that the onus is on the taxpayer to prove that there is no fraud or evasion. The taxpayer challenged an AAT decision (Nguyen and FCT [2016] AATA 1041) that the taxpayer had failed to discharge her burden under s 14ZZK(b)(i) of the TAA of showing that amended assessments for the 2008,…