Category Archives: Tax Month – October 2022

Australian Labor Budget (25.10.22) – ABUMs & DGR – AXED: TOFA changes; limited partnership CIVs; 3 yearly SMSF audit; $10k cash payments limit; no DGR for Chaplains – DEFERRED: SMSF relaxed residency – DGR for Indigenous constitutional recognition

Providing certainty on unlegislated tax and superannuation measures announced by the previous Government The Government announced that it will not proceed with the following ones of the previous Government’s ‘Announced But Un-enacted [tax and superannuation] Measures’ (ABUMs): The MYEFO 2013–14 measure that proposed to amend the debt/equity tax rules. The Federal Budget 2016–17 measure that…

Australian Labor Budget (25.10.22) – Tax Administration – added scrutiny: multinationals, large public businesses, private businesses, black economy, personal income tax, tax agents, business registers, directors identification numbers

Extend ATO compliance programs – Tax Avoidance Taskforce The Government will extend funding for the ATO Tax Avoidance Taskforce by around $200 million per year over a 4-year period from 1 July 2022. The Government will also extend the taskforce for a further year from 1 July 2025. Since 2016, the Government has provided the…

Australian Labor Budget (25.10.22) – International Tax – Thin cap (EBITDA); low tax intangibles; multinational transparency; crypto tax treatment; Iceland Treaty; Bhutan diplomatic exemptions

Multinational Tax Integrity Package – amending Australia’s interest limitation (thin capitalisation) rules The Government announced that it will amend the thin capitalisation rules to address risks to the corporate tax base arising from the use of excessive debt deductions. This measure will apply to income years commencing on or after 1 July 2023. The current…

Australian Labor Budget (25.10.22) – Superannuation – CGT ‘down-sizer’ relief extended; Age pension means test relief

Superannuation – expanding eligibility for downsizer contributions The Government will reduce the minimum eligibility age to make downsizer contributions into superannuation from 60 to 55 years with effect from the start of the first quarter after Royal Assent of the enabling legislation. There are no changes to the remaining current downsizer eligibility criteria. The downsizer…

Australian Labor Budget (25.10.22) – Business Tax Issues – off-market share buybacks, intangibles, low emission car exemptions, Covid benefits NANE

Improving the integrity of off-market share buy-backs The Government will align the income tax treatment of off-market share buy-backs undertaken by listed public companies with the treatment of on-market share buy-backs. This measure is aimed at improving the tax integrity of such transactions to ensure they are not used to obtain a tax advantage for…

High court backs woman against ATO claim on home – not so much because of the 15th-Century presumption

On 12.10.2022, the AFR’s Michael Pelly reported that a Perth woman had blocked the Tax Office from making a claim on her family home, to settle her former husband’s debt as part of a High Court victory which preserved an antiquated and “discriminatory” legal principle. The court ruled on Wednesday that Bernadette Bosanac did not hold half…

Bosanac v Commissioner of Taxation – Wife of taxpayer succeeds – High Court clarifies the ‘presumption of advancement’

On Wednesday 12.10.2022, the High Court unanimously allowed an appeal from the Full Court of the Federal Court of Australia deciding that the the appellant (“Ms Bosanac”) did NOT hold half of her interest in a residential property (“the Property”) on trust for her husband, the second respondent (“Mr Bosanac”) who owed the Commissioner money for…

PCG 2022/1 – non-commercial loss rules – practical relief for those affected by floods, bushfires and COVID-19

In The Tax Institute’s TaxVine email (#37, 7.10.22), their Tax Counsel, Julie Abdalla FTI, examined the non-commercial loss (NCL) rules and how the ATO’s recent Practical Compliance Guideline PCG 2022/1 (PCG) intends to relieve the burden on taxpayers impacted by floods, bushfires or COVID-19. The PCG provides a safe harbour for taxpayers from the 2019–20…

Deciphering cryptocurrency and digital assets – a view from RMIT

In The Tax Institute’s weekly TaxVine email (No.36, 30.9.2022), their member: Elizabeth Morton, FTI, Lecturer and Research Fellow at RMIT University, shared her insights on the taxation of cryptocurrency and digital assets (in an article that is a very good round up, of where we stand now, on the taxation of ‘cryptocurrencies’, in Australia). Everyone can…

Tax Month – October 2022

T a x  T e c h n i c a l  –  M o n t h l y  N e w s – October 2022 Edition – ‘Tax Developments’ for tax practitioners by a tax practitioner.   Compiled by F John Morgan A member of the Victorian Bar (www.FJMtax.com) Table of Contents ______________________________________________________________________________  …