Practitioners will need to be on top of the reductions in the corporate tax rates, which can be confusing. The following is helpful, as it is the ATO’s summary of the relevant Acts and Bills, with the relevant ‘phase in’ dates and thresholds spelt out in tables. On 1 September 2016, the Government introduced Treasury…
The Board of Taxation’s CEO: Ms Karen Payne, reported on the Board’s meeting on Thursday 7 December 2017 (the final meeting for the year). Pipeline of possible projects The Board continued to discuss the scope and content of a number of possible projects, including: A review of small business tax concessions; A comparison of the…
On 18 Dec 2017, the ATO posted an article drawing attention to its recently released draft Tax Ruling on vesting trusts: TR 2017/D10 (see related Tax Month article). It advises as follows. What happens to a trust on vesting will depend on the requirements set out in your client’s trust deed. Broadly, beneficiary interests in…
On 18 Dec 2017, the ATO finalised its Practical Compliance Guideline PCG 2017/4 on its compliance approach to cross-border related financing arrangements. It also posted a brief article, about the finalised PCG, including the main changes since the draft. The guidance explains how taxpayers can price related party loans to demonstrate they are ‘low risk’ and avoid compliance action.…
On 13 December 2017, the ATO issued a Draft Ruling on trust vesting: Draft TR 2017/D10. This sets out the Commissioner’s preliminary views about the vesting of a trust, changing the trust’s vesting date and the income tax consequences of vesting. Amending a Trust’s Vesting Date A trust deed will nearly always specify a date on…
Précis The case deals with the validity of ‘alternative assessments’ – whether ‘tentative’ or not – upholding established law and the Commissioner’s practices. This was in the context of assessing a trust’s income. Brief summary of facts The applicant was the trustee of a discretionary trust. Because the Commissioner had insufficient information to determine whether…
On 14 December 2017, 4 amendments were made to the State Taxation Acts Further Amendment Bill 2017 in the Legislative Council. They concern inserting a definition of “business day”, and other minor amendments. The Legislative Assembly subsequently agreed to those amendments, so the bill has passed both houses. The Bill contains various amendments including: to the Payroll Tax…
On 14 December 2017, the ATO announced that it was suspending its 2015 ‘Assessing the Risk: Allocation of profits within professional firms guidelines’ and ‘Everett Assignment web material’ – saying that it was to be reviewed in 2017. It says that: “In reviewing the guidelines we have become aware they are being misinterpreted in relation to arrangements that go…
On 14 December 2017, the Commissioner issued the following Decision Impact Statement about the Full Federal Court decision of Lewski v Commissioner of Taxation [2017] FCAFC 145. This is an important decision on both when an amount is ‘incurred’, for general deduction purposes, and also on the effect of making income distribution resolutions on an…
The Full Federal Court handed down its judgement in Lewski v Commissioner of Taxation [2017] FCAFC 145 on 18 September 2017, overturning the AAT’s decision, in : Re TVKS and FCT [2016] AATA 1010. The Court set aside the Commissioner’s amended assessments to Mrs Lewski of $10.1m in the 2006 year and $3.1m in the 2007 year. There were…