The Senate Economics Legislation Committee has recommended that the Minerals Resource Rent Tax Repeal and Other Measures Bill 2013 be passed by the Senate. The Committee also recommended that: (i) the Government revisit certain measures in the Bill, in particular incentives in superannuation for low income earners and taxation issues affecting small business, “once…
The Senate Environment and Communications Legislation Committee has recommended that the Clean Energy Legislation (Carbon Tax Repeal) Bill 2013 and related bills be passed by the Senate. Its report was tabled Mon 2.12.2013, in the Senate. The committee also agreed with the intention of the amending legislation to abolish the Clean Energy Finance Corporation and…
The ATO has issued Self Managed Superannuation Funds: A Statistical Overview 2011-12. The ATO reported that as at 30 June 2013, there were 509,000 SMSFs holding $506bn in assets. There were also approximately 964,000 members in the SMSF sector, almost 8% of roughly 11.6m members in Australian super funds. The ATO said the number of SMSFs has increased by…
The ATO has reminded newly registered SMSFs that their annual return for 2013 is due on 28 February 2014. It says an audit report will need to be completed so that the annual return can be lodged on time. For newly registered funds that do not have any assets set aside for the benefit of their members…
This Draft Ruling, released on Wed 4.12.2013, considers apportionment, for the purposes of s 8-1 of the ITAA 1997, of a loss or outgoing incurred by a superannuation entity partly in gaining or producing assessable income and partly in gaining or producing non-assessable income. The Draft Ruling states that an expense incurred by a superannuation entity…
The taxpayers have lodged a notice of appeal to the Full Federal Court against the decision of Siopis J in Albrecht & Ors v FCT [2013] FCA 1248. In a test case funded by the ATO, the Federal Court had upheld the constitutional validity of superannuation contributions surcharge tax assessments issued to commissioned officers of the…
The AAT has upheld the Commissioner’s decision to include in a taxpayer’s assessable income money withdrawn from a self-managed super fund (SMSF) in breach of the payment standards in the SIS Regulations. The taxpayer had withdrawn from her SMSF 4 amounts totalling $62,500 to complete the purchase of a home after she had been made…
The Superannuation Legislation Amendment (2013 Measures No 2) Regulation 2013 was registered on Mon 16.12.2013] to amend the SIS Regs and RSA Regs to facilitate the release of superannuation amounts pursuant to a release authority to pay tax liabilities arising from certain superannuation contributions. From 1 July 2013, excess concessional contributions (ECCs) are included in an individual’s…
The Government on Mon 16.12.2013, released for consultation Exposure Draft – Tax and Superannuation Laws Amendment (2014 Measures No 2) Bill 2014, that proposes to increase the account balance threshold, above which lost and inactive superannuation accounts must be transferred to the Tax Office. Currently, small lost superannuation accounts with balances of less than $2,000…
The ATO has advised that it has become aware of a number of issues regarding the application of the in-house asset exemption provided by s 71(8) of the SIS Act to an investment in a related trust held by an SMSF as a required part of a limited recourse borrowing arrangement (LRBA). The ATO said the…