Category Archives: Tax Month – April 2017

SGD 2017/1 ATO rules that SGC is payable on ‘advances’ paid to former employees of a company in liquidation, under the Fair Entitlements Guarantee Act but it is only the employer (not the liquidator) who is liable

On Wed 19.4.2017, the ATO issued Superannuation Guarantee Determination SGD 2017/1 asking: Is an advance paid under s28 of the Fair Entitlements Guarantee Act 2012 to a former employee ‘salary or wages’ paid by the employer to the employee for the purposes of working out a superannuation guarantee charge liability under the Superannuation Guarantee (Administration) Act…

Sandini Pty Ltd v FCT – Commissioner appeals from decision holding that a CGT rollover, on break-down in marriage, doesn’t have to be to the former spouse (though there’s a separate rollover from a related entity to a spouse)

The Commissioner has appealed to the Full Federal Court against the decision in Sandini Pty Ltd v FCT [2017] FCA 287. In that decision, the Federal Court had ruled that the CGT marriage breakdown roll-over relief applied where shares were transferred by a former spouse to his former wife’s discretionary trust, rather than to the former wife herself (as…

Re Banks and FCT – Truck driver loses claim for work-related travel expenses above the maximum reasonable amount that can be claimed without formal substantiation per TD 2010/19 and TD 2011/17

Re Banks and FCT – Truck driver loses claim for work-related travel expenses above the maximum reasonable amount that can be claimed without formal substantiation per TD 2010/19 and TD 2011/17 The AAT has upheld the Commissioner’s objection decision that had reduced a truck driver’s claims for work-related travel expenses on the basis that he did not…

OECD releases its ‘The International VAT/GST Guidelines’ – setting a internationally agreed standards and recommended approaches to avoid growing risks of double taxation and unintended non-taxation

On 12 April 2017, the OECD noted that Value Added Tax (VAT; also known as Goods and Services Tax, under the acronym GST in a number of OECD countries) has become a major source of revenue for governments around the world. Some 165 countries operated a VAT at the time of the completion of the International VAT/GST…

Transfers from default funds to ‘MySuper’ funds by 1 July 2017 – draft legislation to extend asset rollover relief and loss transfers to transfers within the same fund

On 13 April 2017, the Government has released an exposure draft of legislation and associated draft explanatory material for public consultation. This legislation will amend the Income Tax Assessment Act 1997 to give effect to tax reforms announced on 29 June 2015, which expand the tax relief available to superannuation funds, when mandatorily transferring assets…

Thomas & Anor v FCT – franked dividends and the franking credits/off-sets distributed separately disproportionately between beneficiaries – not how tax law works but bound by QSC’s declaration on effect of distributions

The decision below and the QSC decision In a complex matter, the Full Federal Court has unanimously allowed the taxpayers’ appeals against the August 2015 decision of Greenwood J in Thomas v FCT [2015] FCA 968. Greenwood J had held that a discretionary trust could not distribute franking credits to an individual beneficiary differently from the manner in which the…

Super reforms: capped defined benefit income streams to be expanded – draft regs released

The Government, on Thur 13.4.2017, released exposure draft regulations proposing to expand the definition of “capped defined benefit income stream” to cover additional defined benefit pensions that permit commutation, or would otherwise fall outside the general scope of the provisions. For example, lifetime pensions commuted outside of 6 months from commencement, reversionary child pensions, reversionary pensions commuted…

Treasury Laws Amendment (2017 Measures No. 2) Bill 2017 – exposure draft Super reforms: TRIS rules; CGT relief; pension cap etc.

The Government, on Wed 12.4.2017, released exposure draft legislation proposing technical amendments to resolve certain issues identified with the superannuation reform legislation. The proposed amendments relate to the transition to retirement income stream (TRIS) rules, CGT relief for TRISs, the $1.6m pension transfer balance cap, the concessional contributions cap and the objectives of superannuation. While the…

Country-by-Country reporting: ATO releases further detail on the ‘local file / master file’ detail and design

This guidance builds on the local file – high level design by providing an overview of the detailed design of the local file / master file. It reflects underlying IT specifications (contained in the XML schema) for software developers to use in business management software to enable generation of a valid XML file. We have developed…

Country-by-Country reporting: ATO releases further detail on the ‘local file / master file’ detail and design

This guidance builds on the local file – high level design by providing an overview of the detailed design of the local file / master file. It reflects underlying IT specifications (contained in the XML schema) for software developers to use in business management software to enable generation of a valid XML file. We have developed…