The Tax Laws Amendment (2013 Measures No 4) Bill 2013 was introduced in the House of Reps Wed 26.6.2013. It contains the following amendments:

  • Refunding excess GST – proposes to amend the GST Act to ensure that overpaid GST is refundable only in certain circumstances [inserting a new Div 142 into the GST Act]. The amendments would allow taxpayers to determine their entitlement to a refund of excess GST rather than having to rely on the Commissioner of Taxation to exercise the discretion to refund an overpaid amount of GST. The amendments also provide that the refund provisions would apply to overpayments of GST, irrespective of whether the overpayment arises as a result of a mischaracterisation or miscalculation of the GST payable. DATE OF EFFECT: would apply to all refund claims relating to tax periods starting on or after 17 August 2012, but only for those refund claims lodged on or after Wed 26.6.2013.
  • R&D tax incentive restriction – proposes to amend the ITAA 1997 to deny access to the R&D tax incentive for companies with aggregated assessable income of $20bn or more for an income year. DATE OF EFFECT: would apply to R&D entities’ income years starting on or after 1 July 2013.
  • Quarterly R&D credits – proposes to amend the Taxation Administration Act 1953 to enable eligible small and medium companies to claim specified refundable tax offsets in quarterly instalments in anticipation of their end of year refund from those offsets. Similar to the current PAYG instalment system, a taxpayer’s quarterly instalments would be reconciled against its actual refund entitlements when its annual income tax assessment is made. The system would initially only apply to the 45% R&D refundable tax offset. DATE OF EFFECT: would apply to instalment quarters starting on or after 1 January 2014.

[LTN 121, 26/6/13]