The Commissioner has Gazetted a notice that he will acquire details of insurance policies for certain classes of assets, including marine vessels, enthusiast motor vehicles, thoroughbred horses, fine art and aircraft where the value exceeds nominated thresholds for the 2013-14 and 2014-15 financial years. The ATO said it will obtain policy holder identification details (names, addresses, phone…
A Legislative Instrument was gazetted on 12 February 2016 that varies to nil the amount of withholding required by a payer under the PAYG withholding system for allowance payments, payments made for locum services, and payments made by non-religious entities to religious practitioners, in a certain class of cases. It also removes the requirement to issue payment summaries and…
In an announcement on Saturday, 13 February 2016, Labor Leader Bill Shorten released Labor’s “Funding Health & Education – and Balancing the Budget” policy. The policy proposes to: Limit negative gearing to new housing from 1 July 2017. All current investments – and any made before this date – will not be affected by this change and will be fully grandfathered.…
A taxpayer has been successful before the NSW Civil and Administrative Tribunal in obtaining a marriage break-up transfer exemption from stamp duty under s 68 of the Duties Act 1997 (NSW). The taxpayer married Mr H in 2003. The couple occupied premises in Greenacre owned by Mr H. On 3 November 2011, the taxpayer and Mr H made an oral…
The Tax and Superannuation Laws Amendment (2015 Measures No. 6) Bill 2016 was introduced in the House of Reps on Thursday 3.12.2105 and was passed without amendment on Thursday 4.2.16. The Bill is here and the EM is here. Capital gains tax treatment of earnout rights Schedule 1 to this Bill amends the Income Tax Assessment Act…
A professional sales commission agent has been largely unsuccessful before the AAT in claiming deductions for work-related expenses, including home office expenses, various grocery items and overtime meal allowances. The taxpayer had similar deductions disallowed by the AAT in Re Odgen and FCT [2014] AATA 385 in respect of a different income year. In the current proceedings,…
The taxpayer has appealed to the Federal Court against the decision in Re Ward and FCT [2015] AATA 919. In that the decision, the AAT agreed with the Commissioner that there were no “special circumstances” under s 292-465 of the ITAA 1997 to disregard or re-allocate the taxpayer’s excess non-concessional contributions for a year, despite the…
Australian financial services (AFS) licensees and representatives who provide tax (financial) advice services for a fee or other reward must now be registered with the Tax Practitioners Board (TPB) [as of 1 Jan 2016]. They can no longer rely on a disclaimer to provide these services while unregistered. The TPB Chair, Ian Taylor, advises that…
Two corporate taxpayers have been unsuccessful before the NSW Civil and Administrative Tribunal in a payroll tax grouping matter. The Commissioner had grouped the taxpayers with another corporate entity for payroll tax purposes. The dispute concerned revised assessments for the financial years 2009 to 2013 for payroll tax, penalty tax and interest, which amounted to…