The Administrative Appeals Tribunal has partially allowed a taxpayer’s objection to an administrative penalty of 75% for “intentional disregard” and held the penalty should be reduced to 50% for “recklessness” for the 2001, 2002 and 2003 income years. The Tribunal heard details of a “controversy” relating to the taxpayer’s employment with a research institution leading…
The AAT has affirmed the Commissioner’s decision to disallow a taxpayer’s objection to a penalty assessment and also held that it did not have jurisdiction to hear the taxpayer’s claim for entitlement to PAYG credits. The taxpayer was the sole director and secretary of a company that was placed into liquidation. He lodged his 2012…
The Federal Court has dismissed an application by a taxpayer to re-open his case after the Court at first instance in Blank v FCT [2014] FCA 87 held that a payment of USid=”mce_marker”60m made to him (by way of instalments) following his termination was assessable as “ordinary income” in his hands. The Court arrived at…
Cayman Island liquidators have lost an appeal before the Full Federal Court, which sought to defeat a Deputy Commissioner of Taxation’s claim to recover a local tax debt from the Australian assets of a Cayman company in liquidation. This was notwithstanding the existence of orders made under the Model Law on Cross-Border Insolvency of the…
Following the decision of the Full Federal Court in FCT v Resource Capital Fund III LP [2014] FCAFC 37 in which the Court unanimously allowed the Commissioner’s appeal and held that the taxpayer, a non-resident limited partnership, was assessable on a capital gain of $58m it made on the sale of shares it held in…
The Government Thur 1.5.2014, released the report of the National Commission of Audit. The Commission was established by the Government as an independent body to review and report on the performance, functions and roles of the Commonwealth government. It ceased on 31 March 2014. The Commission made 86 recommendations – 64 in its Phase 1 Report which…
Treasury on Mon 26.5.2014, released exposure draft legislation which proposes to address a technical issue identified in Australia’s foreign resident CGT regime. Specifically, the exposure draft amendments aim to clarify the definition of permanent establishments located in Australia. The correction is designed to ensure that foreign residents are subject to CGT in relation to CGT assets…
On 14 May 2013, the previous Government announced amendments to the foreign resident CGT Principal Asset Test, which would: value mining, quarrying or prospecting information and goodwill together with the mining rights to which they relate; and remove the ability to use transactions between members of the same consolidated group to create and duplicate assets. On 4 November 2013,…
On 6 November 2013, the Government announced that it would proceed with reforms to tighten the thin capitalisation rules to prevent erosion of the tax base. These reforms are intended to ensure that multinationals do not allocate a disproportionate amount of debt to their Australian operations. Draft legislation has now been released which proposes to: tighten the…
The Government has released draft legislation covering proposed miscellaneous amendments to taxation and superannuation laws. The amendments seek to ensure the law operates as intended by correcting technical or drafting defects, removing anomalies and addressing unintended outcomes. They include: repeal of Assessed Net Amount Concept in the GST Act, amendments re the time at which…