On 24 March 2017 the Board of Taxation held its second meeting for 2017. At the Board’s meeting, we discussed the following
Some additional detail on the progress of the Board’s work is set out below.
Tax Transparency Code
The Board noted that 76 organisations (including private and foreign companies) have now indicated their intention to adopt the Code – the set of principles and minimum standards to guide the disclosure of tax information by businesses. As this update is being sent out, half (38) of these companies have already published their first reports. A register of these organisations can be found at: http://taxboard.gov.au/current- activities/transparency-code-register/. The Board expects more organisations to adopt the Code as 2017 progresses.
The Board received an update on the status of the AASB’s work on material to guide organisations seeking to comply with the obligations they have taken on under the Code.
Sounding Board
The Board received an update on the recent activity on the Sounding Board and noted some of the most- supported ideas. The Board acknowledged that improvements needed to be made in the timeliness of providing feedback on ideas and communicating on the progress of ideas. We are investigating ways to improve the effectiveness of this transparent forum and the opportunity to share tax ideas with the Board.
If you would like to comment, vote or post your own suggestion, you can do so by registering with Sounding Board. Please visit Sounding Board for more information – https://taxboard.ideascale.com/.
Our current projects and pipeline for 2017
The Board continues to be involved with the Government’s Black Economy Taskforce, as well as progressing several projects towards completion. Following the February Board meeting, the Board finalised and delivered to Government its report on asset merger roll-over relief.
1 Work continues to progress on the following projects:
- high wealth individuals and residency (refer below for further detail); § Targeted improvements for custodial trusts;
- tax and the sharing economy (consultation ongoing); and
- alignment of tax and accounting concepts (consultation ongoing).
The Board is also considering whistle-blower protections and mandatory disclosure of aggressive tax arrangement rules.
The Board expects to review additional projects to add to its 2017 work program at the April Board meeting.
High wealth individuals and residency
The Board discussed a draft working paper of the working group led by Dr Pizzacalla in relation to the tax residency test for individuals and affirmed the key principles of the emerging draft recommendations. The Board also provided observations and comments to the working group in relation to several matters still under consideration by the working group.
The next meeting is on 28 April 2017.
[BofT website – home, CEO updates, March 2017 Update; LTN 72, 19/4/17]