The Inspector-General of Taxation and Taxation Ombudsman (IGTO) welcomes the tabling and release of the report by the Senate Economics Legislation Committee on 17 June 2020 – Performance of the Inspector-General of Taxation. The Committee commenced its Inquiry on 1 August 2019 and ended up making 16 recommendations. See below for the Recommendations and some…
On 16 June 2020, the AAT decided that The AAT has concluded that ‘Bitcoin‘ is not a ‘foreign currency‘ for the purposes of the rules in Div 775 of the ITAA97 dealing with foreign currency gains and losses. See below for a summary of the case. [Tax Technical – June 2020]
On 4 June 2020, the Sydney Morning Herald posted an article by journalists: By Charlotte Grieve and Samantha Hutchinson, entitled ‘ATO launches legal action against accounting giant PwC, meat processor JBS’ which is about litigation the ATO has commenced against a meet processing company: JBS Australia, including against PWC Legal for claims of ‘Legal Professional Privilege’ (LPP).…
This week, allegations of sexual harassment, by a former High Court judge, during the time he was a judge of that Court, shook the legal world – perhaps more seriously than the ‘Lawyer-X’ scandal. They were both illegal, but these harassment allegations, are at the absolute peak of the legal profession, and the alleged conduct…
The High Court granted the Commissioner special leave to appeal to the High Court against the decision of the Full Federal Court in CofT v Travelex Limited [2020] FCAFC 10, which related to the amount of interest the Commissioner had to pay, from a successful GST test case, which went all the way to the…
On 25 June 2020, the case of AJ & PA McBride Ltd v CofT was reported, where the AAT decided that the purchaser of a sheep station was not allowed an immediate deduction, under Subdiv 40-F of the ITAA 1997 (relating to ‘Primary production depreciating assets’), for the cost of the fences that were already on…
On Friday 26 June 2020, the ATO announced they would extend the 30 June 2020 due date for s109E ‘minimum yearly repayments’ of loans, that ‘comply’ with s109N of the ‘deemed dividends’ provisions, in Division 7A of Part III of the ITAA36 (Div 7A). See below for further details. [Tax Month – June 2020]
On 22 June 2020, the Treasury Laws Amendment (2019 Measures No. 3) Bill 2019 received Royal Assent as Act No. 64 of 2020, bringing good news to employers. Amongst other things, the new Act has amended the FBT Law, so that the definition of ‘taxi’, in that Act, matched the definition in the GST Law.…
The Australian Financial Review (AFR) posted an article on 3 June 2020, by its superannuation writer: Joanne Mather, entitled: ‘Push to give SMSFs the chance to invest like big funds‘. See below for further detail. [Tax Month – June 2020]
On 11 June 2020, the Australian Financial Review (AFR) posted an article by Matthew Cranston and Joanna Mather entitled: ‘Morrison plan for super infrastructure investment edges closer‘. See below for further detail. [Tax Month – June 2020]