Category Archives: Tax Month – April 2014

*MT 2008/2 Addendum – amend ruling on shortfall penalties for taking a position that is not reasonably arguable deemed for transfer pricing [20]

The ATO on Wed 16.4.2014, issued an Addendum to Ruling MT 2008/2 (Shortfall penalties: administrative penalty for taking a position that is not reasonably arguable) to reflect amendments to the TAA contained in the Tax Laws Amendment (Countering Tax Avoidance and Multinational Profit Shifting) Act 2013 (Amendment Act). The Amendment Act inserted Subdiv 284-E, which provides…

*TR 2014/D4 – Transfer pricing: documentation requirements [19]

This Draft Ruling, released Wed 16.4.2014, sets out the Commissioner’s views on the transfer pricing documentation an entity should prepare and keep as required by s 284-255 of Sch 1 to the Taxation Administration Act 1953. Where an entity does not meet these requirements, Div 284 of Sch 1 to the TAA (dealing with administrative penalties) will apply as…

*TR 2014/D3 – Application of new ‘transfer pricing provisions’: s 815-130 of the ITAA97 [18]

This Draft Ruling, released Wed 16.4.2014, provides the Commissioner’s views about the application of s 815-130 of Subdiv 815-B of the ITAA 1997, which specifies the relevance of the actual commercial or financial relations to the identification of the arm’s length conditions for transfer pricing purposes. Some points from the Draft Ruling include: Subdiv 815-B applies…

*Re Macoun and FCT – Comm’r appeals to Federal Court against decision that early retirement pension from World Bank was exempt from income [17]

The Commissioner has appealed to the Federal Court against the decision in AAT Case [2014] AATA 155, Re Macoun and FCT. The AAT had ruled that an early retirement pension that the resident taxpayer received from the World Bank in the 2009 and 2010 income years in connection with his employment with the bank as…

*DCT v Zammitt – Commissioner wins appeal re retrospective DPN amendments [14]

The Full Court of the NSW Court of Appeal has unanimously allowed a Deputy Commissioner’s appeal from the decision of the NSW District Court in DCT v Zammitt [2012] NSWDC 135 in which the Court had dismissed a claim for recovery of DPN penalties of over $365,000 notified in a DPN notice which had specified…

*SPI PowerNet Pty Ltd v FCT – Commissioner appeals to Full Federal Court against decision that copyright can be written off on the taxpayer’s valuation [16]

The Commissioner has appealed to the Full Federal Court against the decision of Pagone J in [2014] FCA 261. The Federal Court had set aside the Commissioner’s decision on the basis on which copyright deductions could be claimed by the taxpayer and ordered that the matter be remitted to the Commissioner for re-determination in accordance with…

*FCT & Darling and Anor – Commissioner wins appeal: documents filed in Family Court can be used for tax purposes [15]

The Full Court of the Family Court has ruled that the Court at first instance in FCT & Darling and Anor [2013] FamCA 118 wrongly applied its discretion to prevent the Commissioner from using certain documents filed in the Court for the purposes of an audit of one of the parties to the proceedings (and…

*FCT v Altnot Pty Ltd – CGT: maximum net asset value test and excluded assets [11]

The Federal Court has remitted a CGT matter back to the AAT for rehearing and determination in accordance with its reasons. The case concerned the maximum net asset value test (MNAV) and the CGT small business concessions. The taxpayer was a company that made a capital gain of over id=”mce_marker”m in selling its interest in…

*Re Hulsen and FCT – Serious hardship found, but release of tax debt refused as the release would not alleviate hardship and other debts paid ahead of tax [13]

The AAT has found a taxpayer was in “serious hardship”, but refused to exercise the Commissioner’s discretion to release him from his tax debts under Div 340 of Sch 1 to the TAA. The taxpayer had requested that the Commissioner release him from his tax liabilities amounting to around id=”mce_marker”03,000 for the period roughly 2008 to 2012.…

*Re Yerro and FCT – Car and travel expense claims disallowed [12]

The AAT has upheld the Commissioner’s decision to disallow a claim for car and travel expenses. The taxpayer was a Philippines national who came to Australia with his family on a Religious Worker Visa sub class 428. He was employed by a church in Queensland as an associate pastor, but he also worked as a…