On Fri 30.9.2016, the Minister for Social Services registered a legislative instrument: A New Tax System (Goods and Services Tax) (Adult and Community Education Courses) Determination 2016 to satisfy the definition of “adult and community education course” in s195-1 of the GST Act. The significance of this instrument is that it determines what ‘adult and community education…
A taxpayer has been unsuccessful before the AAT in arguing that he was not a tax resident of Australia for the 2008-09 income tax year. Between 4 January 2008 and September 2009, the taxpayer was employed and worked at a worksite at Mukhaizna in Oman [see extract of AAT’s reasons below]. The Commissioner considered the taxpayer to be a…
On Wed 28.9.2016, the Commissioner registered the following Legislative Instruments: GST: Recipient Created Tax Invoice Determination (No 41) 2016 for Australian Financial Services Licensees and their Representatives – It allows an Australian Financial Services (AFS) licensee or a representative of an AFS licensee that is a recipient of a taxable supply of a financial planning…
On 28.9.16, the Federal Minister: Greg Hunt released the report from the The review was undertaken by Chair of Innovation Australia Bill Ferris, Australia’s Chief Scientist Alan Finkel and Secretary to the Treasury John Fraser, to: “Identify opportunities to improve the effectiveness and integrity of the R&D Tax Incentive, including by sharpening its focus on…
On 28.9.16, the Commissioner issued Practical Compliance Guideline 2016/5 offering practical guidance as to the terms on which related party ‘limited recourse borrowing arrangements’ (LBRA’s) without attracting audits for ‘non-arm’s length income’ assessments under s295-550(1) of the Income Tax Assessment Act 1997 (ITAA97). It provides 2 ‘safe harbours’ – one for LBRA’s used to buy…
A superannuation fund generally cannot borrow, but s67A of the Superannuation Industry (Supervision) Act 1993 (SIS Act) permits superannuation funds to take ‘limited recourse borrowing arrangement’ (LRBA) to buy an ‘acquirable asset’ (and the asset is held by a separate trustee so the lender can only have recourse to that asset). Self Managed Superannuation Funds…
Two applicants (a company and its sole director) have been unsuccessful before the AAT in a matter concerning the Tax Practitioners Board’s decisions refusing essentially their tax agent registration. In October 2015, the Board rejected the application of the company applicant for renewal of its tax agent registration on the basis that the Board was not satisfied…
Switzerland, represented by Ambassador Ulrich Lehner , today deposited its instrument of ratification for the multilateral Convention on Mutual Administrative Assistance in Tax Matters (“the Convention”) in the presence of OECD Secretary-General Angel Gurría. This ratification re-affirms Switzerland’s commitment to greater tax transparency and marks another important step in implementing the Standard for Automatic Exchange…
The OECD chief of BEPS reform: Pascal Saint-Amans said that the EU decision to order Apple to pay back 13b euro to Ireland was not a precedent for the future as it was based on state aid rather than tax law in the past. European Union antitrust regulators last month ordered Apple to pay up…
Cross-border business-to-business (B2B) GST reforms commenced on Saturday, 1 October 2016. They were introduced in the Tax and Superannuation Laws Amendment (2016 Measures No 1) Act 2016, which received Royal Assent on 5 May 2016. Under the changes, the GST Act has been amended to better target the way Australia’s GST rules apply to cross-border supplies that involve non-resident…
