The Government on Wed 12.2.2014, released for public consultation draft legislation to make amendments to the Farm Management Deposits (FMD) scheme. The draft legislation gives effect to the Government’s decision announced on 6 November 2013 to proceed with the former Government’s proposals to: increase the off-farm income threshold from $65,000 to id=”mce_marker”00,000, allowing primary producers to earn…
The Tax and Superannuation Laws Amendment (2014 Measures No 1) Bill 2014 was introduced in the House of Reps on Wed 26.2.2014. It proposes to: phase out the net medical expenses tax offset with transitional arrangements for those currently claiming the offset, to give people time to adjust. From 1 July 2013, those taxpayers who claimed the…
M o r g a n’ s T a x M o n t h – February 2014 Developments – This is a collection of developments in Australian tax law and practice that occurred in February 2014 and which aims at being of relevance to tax lawyers.* F John Morgan A member of the Victorian…
Action 13 of the OECD’s BEPS Action Plan released on 19 July 2013 calls for a review of the existing transfer pricing documentation rules and the development of a template for country-by-country reporting of income, taxes and economic activity for tax administrations. An initial draft of revised guidance on transfer pricing documentation and country-by-country reporting was released…
Treasury on Thur 30.1.2014, launched the Financial System Inquiry website. The Inquiry is charged with examining how the financial system could be positioned to best meet Australia’s evolving needs and support Australia’s economic growth. The Treasurer had in December 2013 announced the final terms of reference of the Inquiry (see last month’s edition). Interested stakeholders can now…
Treasury on Thur 30.1.2014, released the Tax Expenditures Statement 2013, dated January 2014. The 2013 Tax Expenditures Statement lists 355 tax expenditures (eg tax exemptions, deductions or offsets, concessional tax rates and deferrals of tax liability) provided to taxpayers by the Australian Government and, where possible, the estimated value or order of magnitude of the benefit to…
The Government on Friday 24.1.14 announced that the Australian Valuation Office (AVO) will close and will cease to provide services by 30 June 2014. [The Tax Office manages the business operations of the AVO.] The Parliamentary Secretary to the Treasurer Steven Ciobo said the AVO had become unsustainable and was expected to incur losses of up to…
At his address to the World Economic Forum at Davos in Switzerland on Thur 23.1.2014, the Prime Minister spoke of the need for efficient smaller governments, profitable private businesses, and he also commented on Australia’s role as Chair of the G20 this year and what he would like see agreed on taxation in the globalised…
The CPI indexation factor, which is used for FBT purposes concerning remote area benefits (under ss 60 and 60AA of the FBTAA), for the December quarter 2013 increased 0.8 from the September 2013 quarter to 104.8. The Australian Bureau of Statistics (ABS) said inflation was running at 2.7% through the year to 31 December 2013 (up from 2.2% through the year…
The Federal Government has granted a request from the National Commission of Audit to extend its reporting date for the phase one report by up to 2 weeks. The Government originally asked the group to deliver its recommendations in a short time frame by 31 January 2014. The Treasurer said the Commission has advised the Government that…