Category Archives: Tax Month – November 2018

TR 2018/7 – Employee Remuneration Trust (non-Div 83A ESS interests) – employer deduction on contribution; employee tax on benefits; tax effect on trustee; FBT; Div 7A deemed dividends; 13-month pre-payment rule

On Wed 31.10.2018, the ATO issued Taxation Ruling TR 2018/7 on employee remuneration trust (ERT) arrangements that operate outside the employee share scheme rules in Div 83A of ITAA97 (which includes beneficial interests in employer shares held through trusts). The Ruling finalises draft Taxation Ruling TR 2017/D5. This ruling is about arrangements established to facilitate the provision of…

Comprehensive Income Product for Retirement (CIPRs) – start date deferred to 1 July 2022 and account balance threshold increased from $50k to $100k

In a media released Wed 31.10.2018, the Assistant Treasurer, Stuart Robert, said the Government will defer, to 1 July 2022, the start date for superannuation funds to offer a Comprehensive Income Product for Retirement (CIPR). In addition, the Government will increase the threshold superannuation balance for offering a CIPR from $50,000 to $100,000. INNOVATIVE INCOME STREAMS: Mr Robert…

Minister announces changes to the superannuation law – relating to the way ‘market-linked pensions’ are treated under the $1.6m ‘transfer balance cap’ rules & keeping rolled over death benefits tax free

On 30 Oct 2018, the Government has announced that it will amend the superannuation tax law to address some minor, but important issues, as part of the ongoing implementation of the July 2017 super reforms. In a speech to the Alliance for a Fairer Retirement System, the Assistant Treasurer, Stuart Robert, said the new measures will: Market-linked…

Australian Financial Complaints Authority (AFCA) opening for business as of Thursday 1 November 2018 – replacing the Financial Ombudsman Service (FOS) and Credit and Investments Ombudsman (CIO) and the Superannuation Complaints Tribunal (SCT)

The Australian Financial Complaints Authority (AFCA) opening for business as of Thursday 1 November 2018. This is the new one-stop shop for financial dispute resolution, delivering free, fast and binding services for all financial complaints, whether they be related to banks, credit providers, insurance companies or superannuation funds. AFCA will replace the Financial Ombudsman Service…

GST property withholding credits delayed by incorrect vendor information – ATO advises steps necessary for prompt credits

On 31 October 2018, the ATO uploaded a post addressed to vendors of property, on which GST is to be withheld and remitted to the ATO, as a credit against the eventual assessed GST. The ATO reminds vendors, that the start of the process, is with the Vendor of the land, who has to supply…

ASIC disqualifies two separate Queensland SMSF auditors – breach of ‘independence requirements’ auditing their own funds, the fund of an immediate family member and the fund of a close family member

On Tuesday 30 October 2018, ASIC announced that it had disqualified two separate self-managed superannuation funds (SMSF) auditors: John Gilliland and Douglas Coghlan, both of Queensland, for breaching independence requirements. ASIC found both Mr Gilliland and Mr Coghlan had separately breached auditor independence requirements in auditing their own funds, the fund of an immediate family member…

The Tax Practitioners Board’s 2017/18 Annual Report – revealing growth in total registrations since inception and overall complaints numbers and outcomes

The Tax Practitioners Board (TPB) released its 2017/18 Annual Report under s60–130(1) of the Tax AgentServices Act 2009. Amongst the things it reports on, are the following. The TPB has been in operation, 8 years (since 1 March, 2018). By 30 June 2018 the registered tax practitioner population had tripled to 77,749 (since the beginning),…

UK Budget 2018: BEPS and other corporate tax measures – PE changes, Hybrid Mismatches, Diverted Profits Tax, Non-UK companies with UK property businesses and Hybrid Capital Instruments

On 29 October 2018, the UK Chancellor of the Exchequer, Philip Hammond, handed down the 2018 UK Budget and announced a range of tax measures. While the headline measure was the proposed 2% digital services tax on large digital firms from April 2020 (see related Tax Technical Article), the UK Government also announced a range of corporate…

UK announces a 2% unilateral, and temporary, ‘Digital Services Tax’ (DST) on ‘within scope’ revenues linked to UK users – large: ‘social media platforms’, ‘online market places’ and ‘search engines’

On UK Budget day: 29 Oct 2018, the UK Government announced that it will unilaterally introduce a 2% digital services tax on the revenues of large digital firms that are linked to users in the UK (whilst continuing to contribute to global consensus on a long term answer to this challenge to the UK tax…

ATO collects share sale data from an additional source – to help ‘prefil’ tax returns and ensure disclosures are correct and complete

On 30 October 2018, the ATO posted the following statement on its latest data matching protocol, which will see the ATO continue to receive share data from the Australian Securities and Investment Commission (ASIC). The data includes details of the price, quantity and time of individual trades dating back to 2014, with more than 500 million…