Category Archives: Tax Month – June 2017

Country by Country (CbC) Reporting – EU Parliamentary Committee resolves that Big Multinationals (750m Euro plus global turnover) must PUBLICLY report tax affairs in each country – including countries outside the EU

The Economics and Legal Affairs Committees of the European Parliament on 12 June 2017 voted to make multinational companies, with an annual net turnover of €750 million and above, publicly report their activities, structures and tax payments on a country-by-country basis. The draft report was approved by 38 votes to 9 votes, with 36 abstentions. The result, if…

ATO’s review of private advice – offering early engagement like ‘big business’ and streamlined ruling application form

Deputy Commissioner Tim Dyce said the ATO has made a number of changes to our advice and guidance services that are designed to be responsive to community needs. Through the review of private advice we set out to learn all we could about our private advice services – and then went about making changes to improve…

Privately owned and wealthy groups – the ATO lists the features that attract its audit and investigation interest

Many advisers might have some idea what attracts the ATO’s attention to privately owned and wealthy groups, but now it has uploaded its own list of features on its, website, which comprise the following behaviours and characteristics may attract its attention: tax or economic performance is not comparable to similar businesses; low transparency of tax affairs; large,…

Treasury Laws Amendment (GST Low Value Goods) Bill 2017 – Bill to impose Australian GST on foreign vendors of sub-$1,000 goods passes Lower House but Labor flags amendments to delay its introduction 1 year whilst the Productivity Commission investigates other methods of levelling the GST playing field

On Wed 14.6.17, the Treasury Laws Amendment (GST Low Value Goods) Bill 2017  passed by the House of Reps without amendment and now moves to the Senate. The Bill proposes to impose GST on supplies of imported low-value goods, ie those worth less than A$1,000. On the same day, the Labor Party flagged it will…

Hacon v C of T (Cwth) – the Court held that the Commissioner’s decision not to rule because he needed more information (which he did not go on and ask for) was an error of law and was quashed

On Thur 13.6.2017, the Federal Court held that the Commissioner’s decision to decline to make a private ruling, requested by the taxpayers, be quashed. The case essentially involved the inter-generational transfer of a family grazing business. The taxpayers were a company and 3 related individuals. The individuals were the sons of the late Mr Walter Hacon.…

Multilateral Treaty Convention – signed by Australian Minister and 67 other jurisdictions, 30 of which will modify Australia’s DTT’s with them – Treasury summarises Australia’s position

Australia has signed the Multilateral Convention to Implement Tax Treaty Related Measures to Prevent Base Erosion and Profit Shifting (the Convention). The Minister for Trade, Tourism and Investment, the Hon Steven Ciobo MP, signed the Convention for Australia at a ceremony hosted by the Organisation for Economic Cooperation and Development (OECD) in Paris on 7…

LCG 2017/D5 – when ‘re-deliverers’ (and which re-deliverers) are liable for Australian GST on the supply of low-value imported goods

This draft Law Companion Guide: LCG 2017/D5 was released by the ATO on Thur 8.6.2017. It explains the measures in the Treasury Laws Amendment (GST Low Value Goods) Bill 2017 that seek to make redeliverers responsible for GST on offshore supplies of low-value goods. This Bill, which is still before the House of Reps, imposes…

LCG 2017/D4 – when an ‘electronic distribution platforms’ operator is liable for Australian GST under the ‘Netflix’ intangible supplies laws and the low value import laws

This draft Law Companion Guide LCG, 2017/D4 was released on Thur 8.6.2017. It  describes how the Commissioner intends to apply: the “Netflix tax” rules in the Tax and Superannuation Laws Amendment (2016 Measures No 1) Act 2016 (applicable from 1 July 2017) and the imported low-value goods measures in the Treasury Laws Amendment (GST Low Value Goods) Bill…

TD 2017/D2 – Commissioner proposes to rule that ‘dividend equivalent payments’ from a trustee of an ESS trust, to an employee beneficiary, out of s99A taxed dividends, can still be assessed as employment related ‘ordinary income’

TD 2017/D2 was released on Thur 8.6.2017 and in it, the Commissioner proposes to rule that so called ‘dividend equivalent payments’, paid from a trustee of a ’employee share scheme’, can be assessed, to an employee beneficiary, as ordinary income’ under s6-5 of the ITAA 1997. [Here an ’employee share scheme’ is assumed to be one,…

TD 2017/D1 – proposal to rule that the wider definition of ‘distributions’ (that catches nearly every transaction at ‘undervalue’) can apply to non-beneficiaries too – s272-60 of Sch 2F, ITAA 1936

TD 2017/D1 was released on Thur 8.6.2017 and says that a person who is not a beneficiary of the trust is capable of having a distribution made to them, for the purposes of s 272-60 of Sch 2F to the ITAA 1936. Trusts can be prevented from carrying forward tax losses, in certain circumstances, if it has ‘distributed…