The Assistant Treasurer, on Fri 7.12.2012, announced that Ms Susan Pascoe AM has been confirmed as the new Commissioner of the Australian Charities and Not-for-profits Commission (ACNC). Since July 2011, Ms Pascoe has been the Head of the ACNC Implementation Taskforce. “Ms Pascoe has held a number of statutory appointments, board memberships and senior management positions in…
The Anti-Money Laundering and Counter-Terrorism Financing Rules Amendment Instrument 2012 (No 5) was registered on the Federal Register of Legislative Instruments Thur 20.12.2012. It amends the Anti-Money Laundering and Counter-Terrorism Financing Rules Instrument 2007 (No 1) to amend Chapters 11 and 41 of the AML/CTF Rules. Chapter 11 of the AML/CTF Rules sets out the…
The Government has released for consultation draft legislation, which contains the next tranche of reforms to improve disclosure of executive remuneration. Importantly, the draft legislation also seeks to clarify the operation of the dividends test under the Corporations Act. In particular, the Government has sought to address stakeholder concerns by incorporating a solvency-based dividends test.…
Treasury Fri 14.12.2012, released for comment draft legislation proposing to insert a definition of “documentary” into the tax law for the purposes of the film tax offsets, and mainly the Producer Offset. The changes will define the term “documentary”, in accordance with the Australian Communications and Media Authority guidelines, as a creative treatment of actuality…
The High Court of Australia (Fees) Regulation 2012 was registered, Tue 11.12.2012. It repeals and replaces the High Court of Australia (Fees) Regulations 2004 to provide for court fees in the High Court of Australia. Changes include general increases to existing civil law fees by 15%, increasing fees payable by corporations by around 40%, and…
The Income Tax Assessment Amendment Regulation 2012 (No 2) was registered on the Federal Register of Legislative Instruments on Tue 11.12.2012. It amends the Income Tax Assessment Regulations 1997 to remove uncertainty concerning the tax treatment of certain hybrid capital instruments (ie capital instruments that have both debt and equity characteristics) as a result of…
The following Bills received Royal Assent on 10 December 2012: Tax Laws Amendment (2012 Measures No 5) Bill 2012 – as Act No 184 of 2012. The Bill passed all stages with 3 Government amendments. The Bill contains a range of miscellaneous amendments including phasing-out of the mature age worker tax offset; changing eligibility requirements to the…
The Taxation Administration Act 1953 – Notice of exemption from providing payment summaries to passbook account holders was registered on the Federal Register of Legislative Instruments Thur 6.12.2012. It exempts entities from the requirement to issue a payment summary under s 16-155 of Sch 1 to the TAA (‘TAA1’): in respect of Subdiv 12-E (Payments where TFN…
The House of Reps Economics Committee will inquire into amendments to the tax treatment of fringe benefits, limited recourse debt and rebates for medical expenses among other changes contained in the Tax Laws Amendment (2012 Measures No 6) Bill 2012. Among other things, the Bill proposes to remove concessional FBT treatment for in-house fringe benefits…
The following Bills received Royal Assent on Tue 4.12.2012: Treasury Legislation Amendment (Unclaimed Money and Other Measures) Bill 2012 – Act No 176 of 2012. The Bill makes amendments to various Acts to bring forward the time at which money is recognised under the relevant law as lost or unclaimed [and to increase the threshold…