VPRX v CofT – Agreement to sell domain name with website, produced a stream of receipts, detected by AUSTRAC, and assessed as income under an associated ‘revenue share agreement’ with 75% penalty

Tax Month - November 2017, Uncategorized

The AAT has held that regular international payments received by a taxpayer in relation to the sale of a website domain name were ordinary income and not capital. The Applicant, who is a resident of Australia, created a domain name and website in 2006 (“the domain name”). The website generated revenue through Google Advertising. In…

News Australia Holdings Pty Ltd v FCT – interest income not yet paid was still held to have been ‘derived’ during the year as this was the correct ‘reflex’ of income for that year

Tax Month - June 2017, Uncategorized

The Federal Court has held that an accruals basis of accounting for the interest accruing to a company (SRC Holdings Limited, which was owned by News Limited) provided the correct reflex of the company’s true income and that the taxpayer applicant in the case (News Australia Holdings Pty Ltd) was to be assessed on SRC’s…

CPI: March quarter 2014 indexation factor for FBT purposes – running at 2.9% to the year ended 31 March 2014 [41]

Uncategorized

The CPI indexation factor, which is used for FBT purposes concerning remote area benefits (under ss 60 and 60AA of the FBTAA), for the March quarter 2014 increased 0.6 from the December 2013 quarter to 105.4. The Australian Bureau of Statistics (ABS) said inflation was running at 2.9% through the year to 31 March 2014 (up from 2.7% through the year…

LCG 2016/D9 Draft Guideline released on new concepts in the Superannuation ‘transfer balance cap’ legislation and how they work

Tax Month - November 2016, Uncategorized

On Thursday 24.11.2016, the ATO released Draft Law Companion Guideline LCG 2016/D9 dealing with Superannuation reform: transfer balance cap. The Treasury Laws Amendment (Fair and Sustainable Superannuation) Bill 2016 (which received Royal Assent as Act No. 81on 29 Nov 2016) imposes a transfer balance cap of $1.6m on the amount of capital individuals can transfer…

PCG 2016/D16 – Draft ATO guidance on the operation of the ‘fixed trust’ requirements in Income Tax and GST law – including the Commissioner’s power to treat relevant trust interests as ‘fixed’ when they would not otherwise be

Uncategorized

What this draft Guideline is about 1. This draft Guideline outlines the factors that the Commissioner will consider when deciding whether to exercise the discretion to treat an entitlement as being a fixed entitlement, which results in a trust being treated as a fixed trust under the trust loss provisions. The Commissioner must determine whether to exercise…

BHP Billiton releases Economic Contribution and Payments to Governments Report 2016

Tax Month - September 2016, Uncategorized

On 21.9.16, BHP Billiton released its Economic contribution and payments to governments Report which shows the company’s total economic contribution globally in the 2016 financial year was US$26.7 billion. This includes US$3.7 billion globally in taxes, royalties and other payments to governments. Releasing the report, BHP Billiton Chief Financial Officer Peter Beaven said the company’s…

PS LA 2005/24 – Practice Statement on ATO’s application of General Anti-avoidance Rules (GAAR) – rewrite whole document for legislative change

Tax Month - September 2016, Uncategorized

The ATO has released an updated and rewritten version of its lengthy Practice Statement Law Administration PS LA 2005/24 on the Application of General Anti-Avoidance Rules. The whole document was re-written following considerable legislative change since the previous re-write, which as in 2009. The Practice Statement should be used where the ATO proposes to: make…

Crown Estates (sales) Pty Ltd Crown Estates Pty Ltd as Trustee for Crown Estates unit trust V Commissioner of Taxation – No ‘input tax credits’ for agent purchaser

Tax Month - April 2016, Uncategorized

On 8 April 2016, judgment was handed down by the Federal Court (Logan J) in the matter of Crown Estates (sales) Pty Ltd Crown Estates Pty Ltd as Trustee for Crown Estates unit trust V Commissioner of Taxation [2016] FCA 335.  The appeal was dismissed. Logan J concluded that the taxpayer was not entitled to claim…