The Federal Court has dismissed the taxpayers’ appeal and held that costs incurred in flying employees from Perth to Geraldton and back for a rail upgrade construction project were not deductible. The Commissioner contended that “fly-in fly-out” (FIFO) employees are undertaking another form of journey to and from work, it having long been established that…
The Federal Court has dismissed a taxpayer’s appeal against an AAT decision that had confirmed the taxpayer, an automotive repair company, was not entitled to deductions for contributions paid to an off-shore “employee welfare fund” in the 1998 and 1999 years, nor resultant carried forward losses in the 1999 income year. The taxpayer and a…
In a decision handed down on Tue 9.12.2014, the Full Federal Court allowed the Commissioner’s appeal and found that the taxpayer was liable for FBT in relation to parking provided to employees at a Canberra airport. At the same time, it dismissed the taxpayer’s appeal in regards to FBT liabilities with regards to car parking…
In a decision handed down on Thur 4.12.2014, the Full Federal Court unanimously allowed the Commissioner’s appeal from the decision in [2014] AATA 155 Re Macoun and FCT, effectively finding that an early retirement pension received by a resident taxpayer from the World Bank was not exempt from Australian income tax. The AAT had ruled…
The Full Federal Court has dismissed a taxpayer’s appeal against a Federal Court decision that he was not carrying on a business of primary production in the relevant years and was therefore not entitled to deductions in respect of improvements he made to the property. The taxpayer had appealed the decision of Collier J (in Nelson…
The High Court on Wed 10.12.2014, unanimously allowed the Commissioner of State Revenue’s appeals from a decision of the Court of Appeal of the Supreme Court of Victoria in Lend Lease Development Pty Ltd & Ors v Comr of State Revenue [2013] VSCA 207 and held that the Commissioner was entitled to assess duty to…
The High Court handed down this important decision on 3 December 2014 and the reports about it can be found above under ‘Cases’, ‘High Court’ under the same heading. [LTN 234, 3/12/14]
On 18 December 2014, the OECD released the following 2 discussion drafts on the BEPS Action Plan: Action 4 of the BEPS Action Plan – Interest deductions – comments are due by 6 February 2015. There will be public consultation on 17 February 2015. Action 14 of the BEPS Action Plan – Dispute resolution – comments are due by 16 January 2015. Public…
The OECD has released 2 new BEPS discussion drafts: Transfer pricing aspects of cross-border commodity transactions. Deals with work in relation to BEPS Action 10. Action 10 identifies that work needs to be undertaken to develop rules to prevent BEPS by engaging in transactions which would not, or would only very rarely, occur between third…
On 18 December 2014, the OECD released discussion drafts of 2 new elements of the OECD International VAT/GST Guidelines. The OECD Committee on Fiscal Affairs (CFA) is developing the Guidelines to address issues of double taxation and unintended non-taxation resulting from inconsistencies in the application of VAT to international trade. The first 3 chapters of these Guidelines…