On 14 Feb 2018, the ATO issued Taxation Ruling TR 2018/2 on the record-keeping obligations of business taxpayers (individuals and companies) where records are kept in electronic form. The ruling contains a series of principles about electronic record-keeping. These principles are that: electronic records are recognised as documents for tax law purposes (Section 2B of…
On 14 February 2018, the ATO issued a statement (on its website) seeking to assure taxpayers that it was well placed, after various ‘BEPS’ initiatives, to ensure that companies, including particularly big companies, were paying ‘appropriate’ amounts of Australian income tax. The ATO also wants to advise that it is already getting on top of…
The AAT has set aside a departure prohibition order (DPO), against a taxpayer, who had become bankrupt, as the DPO was no longer serving its purpose. The Commissioner issued assessments to the taxpayer/applicant totalling about $1.7m (for the 2003, 2004, 2005, 2007 and 2008 years). They arose out of money transferred to Vanuatu and they alleged…
On 28.2.18, ASIC announced that had disqualified Robert Mark Taylor, of New South Wales, from being an approved self-managed superannuation fund (SMSF) auditor for breaching fundamental independence requirements. ASIC found that Mr Taylor had breached the auditor independence requirements of APES 110 Code of Ethics for Professional Accountants in auditing his own fund, the fund…
On 22 February 2018, The Australian Bureau of Statistics released their Nov 2017 Average Weekly Earnings figures (ABS Catalogue no: 6302.0), which include those for ‘ordinary time earnings’ (AWOTE). This allows the 2018/19 superannuation related thresholds to be calculated, under Subdiv 960-M of the ITAA 1997. CONTRIBUTIONS CAPS: The concessional contributions cap is $25,000 for 2018-19…
The Federal Court has held that an employer (BlueScope) should have made contributions under the superannuation guarantee scheme in respect of the “additional hours” and “public holidays” components of employees’ salaries as they constituted ‘ordinary time earnings’. The agreements required employees to work additional hours and employees were in fact routinely called upon to work…
The AAT has confirmed a TPB decision to terminate a tax agent’s registration, because it considered he did not have the ability to do all that was required of him. The applicant has about 840 clients, of whom 95% require tax returns to be prepared. He does virtually all the work himself. He is also…
T a x T e c h n i c a l – M o n t h l y N e w s – February 2018 Developments – This is a collection of developments in Australian tax law and practice that occurred in February 2018 which aims to be relevant to tax practitioners.[i] Compiled By F…
On 26 Feb 2018, the ATO updated their page ‘ ASIC approved auditors of SMSFs (Self Managed Superannuation Funds) which are by far, the greatest number of funds, and which hold a very substantial share of the overall pool of superannuation assets. Approved SMSF auditors do have a critical role in maintaining the health and…
On 5 February 2018, the Federal Court set aside the Commissioner’s assessments, issued to two limited partnerships, for profits they made on their respective investments in the shares of an Australian mining company: Talison Lithium Limited (Lithium Co). In 2007, two limited liability partnerships: Resource Capital Fund IV LP (Resource IV) and Resource Capital Fund…