The Tax and Superannuation Laws Amendment (2014 Measures No 6) Bill 2014 was introduced in the House of Reps on Thur 30.10.2014. It makes the following amendments:
- Remove tax impediments to certain business restructures – would amend the ITAA 1997 to extend the existing business restructure roll-overs available where a member of a company or unit holder in a unit trust can defer the income tax consequences of transactions that occur in the course of a business restructure. In particular, the amendments permit taxpayers to apply the roll-overs in circumstances where they held the relevant shares or units as revenue assets or trading stock. The amendments also consolidate the separate but effectively identical business restructure roll-overs for shares and units in a unit trust into a single set of provisions. The amendments also make a number of technical changes to provisions of the ITAA 1997 to, for example, allow roll-overs for trusts transferring all their assets to a trust or company to apply where the new trust or company holds rights needed to facilitate the transfer.
- MIT withholding regime for foreign pension funds – proposed amendments seek to ensure that foreign pension funds can access the managed investment trust (MIT) withholding tax regime and the associated lower rate of withholding tax on income from certain Australian investments. DATE OF EFFECT: applies to income years commencing on or after 1 July 2008 ratifying current industry practice.
- Exemption for certain US Govt entities – proposed amendment would provide an exemption from Australian tax on income derived by certain entities engaged by the Government of the United States of America in connection with Force Posture Initiatives in Australia (ie defence cooperation initiatives). DATE OF EFFECT: The exemption will apply in relation to the 2014-15 income year and later income years.
- Fuel tax credits and grants – Schedules 4 and 5 to the Bill propose to amend the Fuel Tax Act 2006 and the Energy Grants (Cleaner Fuels) Scheme Regulations 2004. The Schedules seek to ensure that changes to the amount of excise and excise-equivalent customs duty payable by taxpayers as a result of any tariff proposals tabled in the House of Reps are taken into account in calculating fuel tax credits and the cleaner fuels grant for biodiesel and renewable diesel. Therefore, upon Royal Assent to this Bill, fuel tax credit and grant claimants will be able to claim the higher rate of fuel tax credits and grant amounts as a result of the Excise Tariff Proposal (No 1) 2014 and the Customs Tariff Proposal (No 1) 2014 tabled in the House of Reps on Thur 30.10.2014. These amendments also make consequential changes to the fuel tax credit attribution rules consistent with the introduction of fuel indexation under the above Tariff Proposals. DATE OF EFFECT: applies generally from 10 November 2014. However, the consequential change to the fuel tax credit attribution rules applies from 1 July 2014.
The Bill has been referred to the Senate Economics Legislation Committee for inquiry and report by 25 November 2014.
[LTN 210, 30/10/14]