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…
On Thursday 25 January 2018, the Tax Institute’s Senior Tax Counsel: Mr Bob Deutsch proposed a remedy to the unutterable complexity of Australia’s superannuation system. This was in the Institute’s weekly ‘Tax Vine’ publication #2, 25 January 2018. He proposes, what he calls a “15%, 15%, 0%” system for, respectively, contributions tax, earnings tax and employee…
In confirming that a land development company qualified for the primary production land tax exemption, the NSW Court of Appeal has ruled that any competing use of the land considered in applying the dominant use test must be a physical use of the land. The taxpayer is a property developer, which owns a number of…
The NSW Court of Appeal has unanimously dismissed a taxpayer’s application for leave to appeal the decision in the Commissioner’s favour in his debt recovery case: DCT v Anglo American Investments Pty Ltd & Ors [2016] NSWSC 975 (note the other 5 applicants, in this first instance case, set out below). In those cases, the…
The SMSF Association and Australian Tax Office (ATO) have announced a three-year strategic partnership, effective 15 February 2017. In a statement of intent released today, the Association and ATO outlined their intentions to work together to ensure effective regulation and integrity of the SMSF sector. The goals include improve and maintain the integrity and professionalism…
The Government introduced the Crimes Amendment (Penalty Unit) Bill 2017 into the House of Reps 16.2.2017 (see APH Bill Tracker). It proposes to amend the Crimes Act 1914 to increase the amount of the Commonwealth ‘penalty unit’ from $180 to $210, with effect from 1 July 2017. It would also delay the first automatic adjustment of the…
The Government introduced the Treasury Laws Amendment (Working Holiday Maker Employer Register) Bill 2017 in the House of Reps on 16.2.2017. It proposes to give effect to the Government’s commitment that: the information collected by the Commissioner of Taxation concerning the employer registration information of employers of working holiday makers will not be able to…
The Treasury Laws Amendment (Combating Multinational Tax Avoidance) Bill 2017 and the Diverted Profits Tax Bill 2017 have been referred to the Senate Economics Legislation Committee for inquiry and report by 20 March 2017. The Bills seek to implement a 40% Diverted Profits Tax (DPT) that would target multinationals that enter into arrangements to divert their Australian…
The Government introduced the Treasury Laws Amendment (GST Low Value Goods) Bill 2017 on 16 Feb 2017. It proposes to amend the A New Tax System (Goods and Services) Act 1999 (GST Act) to ensure that GST is payable on certain supplies of low value goods that are purchased by consumers and are imported into…
On Friday 17.2.2017, the Federal Court has held that the uberX service, supplied by one of its drivers, constituted the supply of “taxi travel” within the meaning of s144-5(1) [see extract below] of the A New Business System (Goods and Services Tax) Act 1999 (GST Act). At the heart of this proceeding is the question…