On Friday 20 July 2018, Treasury released a consultation paper for comment on the 2018-19 Budget measure to strengthen and modernise the Australian Business Number (ABN) system. This measure implements a recommendation of the final report of the Black Economy Taskforce, that the ABN system be strengthened to provide improved confidence in the identity and…
On Friday 20 July 2018, Treasury released draft legislation to ensure offshore sellers of hotel accommodation in Australia calculate their GST turnover in the same way as local sellers from 1 July 2019. By doing so, the Government proposes to amend the GST Act by requiring offshore suppliers of rights or options to use commercial accommodation in…
Treasury has released details of the policy principles that will be used regarding the start date and transitional period of the 2018-19 Federal Budget thin cap changes. In the 2018-19 Federal Budget, the Government announced that it will tighten Australia’s thin capitalisation rules by requiring entities to align the value of their assets for thin…
NSW Civil and Administrative Tribunal (Tribunal) held that a company was liable, to pay NSW land tax, as an agreement, with the land owner was, in law, a lease. The facts were as follows. Australia Avenue Developments Pty Ltd (Developer) entered into a Project Development Agreement (Development Agreement) with the Sydney Olympic Park Authority (Authority)…
On Tuesday 7 August 2018, Treasury released draft legislation setting out the conditions stapled entities must comply with to access the infrastructure concession and/or transitional arrangements for its proposed changes to the tax treatment of stapled structures. These are the integrity measures that were not ready to be released in first exposure draft of the…
The Federal Court has found that most of the 23 documents obtained by the ATO, in the course of conducting an audit of the taxpayer, and associated entities, were protected by legal professional privilege (LPP). The documents were original emails, forwarding chains of emails and attachments. The matters to which the documents related included a…
On Wednesday 8 August 20018, the High Court unanimously allowed two appeals (one in part) and dismissed two appeals from the Full Court of the Federal Court of Australia. The High Court held that the Full Court erred in concluding that “directions” given by the Supreme Court of Queensland pursuant to s 96 of the…
T a x T e c h n i c a l – M o n t h l y N e w s – August 2018 Developments – This is a collection of developments in Australian tax law and practice that occurred in August 2018 which aims to be relevant to tax practitioners.[i] Compiled By F…
On Wed 18.7.2018, the ATO issued Class Ruling CR 2018/32 (Mantra Group Limited – Employee Share Scheme – Tax Exempt Share Plan Shares disposed of under Scheme of Arrangement). This ruling considers the application of the employee share scheme rules in Div 83A of the ITAA97 to employees of Mantra Group Limited whose shares in the…
On Friday 20 July 2018, Treasury released draft legislation to extend the definition of a significant global entity (SGE) by including members of large multinational groups headed by proprietary companies, trusts, partnerships and investment entities. For the moment, this draft is styled the: Treasury Laws Amendment (Measures for a later sitting) Bill 2018. This measure was…
