John Morgan is a tax specialist lawyer of more than three decades experience now practicing at the Victorian Bar - w: www.FJMtax.com e: f.john.morgan@vicbar.com.au

Taxation Administration (Remedial Power – Foreign Resident Capital Gains Withholding) Determination 2017 – amending the Foreign Resident CGT withholding regime so vendors get the benefit of withholding credits in the year the CGT is payable – for sales that straddle year end

The Commissioner made the Taxation Administration (Remedial Power – Foreign Resident Capital Gains Withholding) Determination 2017 on 31.7.17 and it was registered on on the Federal Register of Legislative Instruments on Fri 4.8.2017. The Determination was made under the Commissioner’s new power to ‘remedy’ legislation (change it) by legislative instrument. This power was inserted into the law in…

Black Economy Taskforce – Minister releases its Interim Report and Consultation Document containing 54 ideas for further feedback prior to final report due October 2017

On 2.8.2017, the Minister for Revenue announced the release of the following two documents by the ‘Black Economy Taskforce’ (headed by Mr Michael Andrews): Its interim report (see table of contents below). A consultation document containing a list of 54 ideas. These ideas are not recommendations but the product of the Taskforce’s extensive ‘roadshow’ consultation…

Class Rulings 2017/47-51 – Retirement Schemes of Illawarra Coal and EnergyAustralia Yallourn and various rollovers in the merger of Touchcorp and Afterplay

On  Wed 2.8.2017, the ATO issued 5 Class Rulings: CR 2017/47 – South32 Illawarra Coal Holdings Pty Ltd Retirement Scheme 2017. The ATO accepts that the scheme is an early retirement scheme for the purposes of s 83-180 of the ITAA 1997. The ruling applies from 2 August 2017 to 30 April 2018; CR 2017/48 – CGT roll-over: exchange of…

Joint toolkit designed to help developing countries tackle the complexities of taxing offshore indirect transfers of assets – IMF, OECD, UN & World Bank seeking feedback on draft ‘toolkit’

01/08/2017 – The Platform for Collaboration on Tax – the OECD announced a joint initiative of the IMF, OECD, UN and World Bank Group to issue a draft toolkit designed to help developing countries tackle the complexities of taxing offshore indirect transfers of assets, a practice by which some multinational corporations try to minimise their…

Diverted Profits Tax – ATO flags development of a LCG to clarify new concepts; a PSLA on processes leading up to a DPT assessment; safeguards built into the procedure to issue a DPT assessment

The ‘Diverted Profits Tax’ (DPT) legislation received Royal Assent on 4 April 2017, with Schedule 1 to the Treasury Laws Amendment (Combating Multinational Tax Avoidance) Act 2017 implementing the DPT and the Diverted Profits Tax Act 2017 setting the 40% tax on profits. The DPT law applies to DPT tax benefits arising in an income year…

GST – Collection Models for GST on Low Value Imported Goods – Discussion Paper issued by the Productivity Commission reference on this subject, required as a condition of the deferred operation of the new law for vendor (etc.) collection of the GST

The Productivity Commission has released a Discussion Paper on Collection Models for GST on Low Value Imported Goods – to assist with its inquiry on this subject – commissioned by the Treasurer on 30 June 2017. The Commission is to report by 31 October 2017 and it has requested submissions from the public by 30…

Draft ‘housing affordability’ law – to implement a ‘First Home Super Saver Scheme (where up to $30k can be withdrawn from a superannuation fund to pay a deposit on a first residence) and also a ‘Main Residence Downsizing Scheme’ (where up to 2 people can make a non-concessional superannuation contribution, of up to $300k each)

On Fri 21.7.2017, Treasury released a draft of the Treasury Laws Amendment (Reducing Pressure on Housing Affordability) Bill 2017 to implement  two of the 2017-18 Budget measures related to housing affordability – being two that had to do with superannuation. Treasury also released draft legislation for other measures designed to reduce pressure on housing affordability recently (see related…

CGT changes – excluding non-residents from the ‘main residence’ exemption; imposing CGT on non-residents for CGT events happening to their ‘membership interests’ by calculating ‘taxable Australian real property (TARP) under the ‘principal asset test’ in s855-30 on an ‘associate inclusive’ basis

On Fri 21.7.2017, Treasury released draft legislation to implement two 2017-18 Budget measures to make CGT changes for foreign residents and sought comments from the public. Before progressing to the substance of these changes, the draft Explanatory Memorandum (EM) notes that these are 2 of the measures announced on budget night (9 May 2017), which were…

LCG 2017/D6 – ATO’s guidance on the new ‘similar’ business rule for carrying forward company tax and capital losses under the ‘innovation’ Bill passing through Parliament

On Friday 21.7.17, the ATO released draft Law Companion Guideline LCG 2017/D6. It deals with The business continuity test – carrying on a similar business. The draft Guideline describes how the Commissioner will apply amendments to be made by the Treasury Laws Amendment (2017 Enterprise Incentives No 1) Bill 2017. The Bill was passed by…