AAT denies deductions for work-related expenses: Lambourne v Commissioner of Taxation [2020] AATA 4562

The Administrative Appeals Tribunal (AAT) recently agreed with the Commissioner in disallowing certain deductions for work-related expenses.

In advancing their continued attention toward the taxation of cryptocurrencies, the Australian Taxation Office (ATO) has published a reminder for taxpayers to ensure they are working out capital gains and losses correctly;

The COVID-19 pandemic is having a multi-faceted impact which touches on almost every aspect of our lives. In turn this may be causing a shift in priorities for investors and business owners.

In Chadbourne v FC of T [2020] AATA 2441 (Chadbourne) the Administrative Appeals Tribunal (AAT) held that a beneficiary (Taxpayer) of a discretionary trust (Trust) was unable to deduct interest on borrowed funds where the funds borrowed in the Taxpayer’s name were used by the Trust to buy real property and shares.

In 2017, the Australian Taxation Office (ATO) released Draft Practical Compliance Guideline PCG 2017/D11 (the PCG) to provide safe harbour measures for professional sportsperson’s who receive lump sum payments in exchange for their professional services and the use and exploitation of their “public fame” or “image”.

As part of the continued economic response to COVID-19, the Deputy Commissioner of the Australian Taxation Office (ATO) has recently made a determination pursuant to subsection 20(4) of the Coronavirus Economic Response Package (Payments and Benefits) Act 2020, outlining further tests under which an entity may satisfy the decline in turnover required in order to receive JobKeeper payments. This article discusses the various new “alternative” tests that an entity may utilise under the determination.

The Australian Government has recently issued its response to a legislation review undertaken by the Australian Charities and Not-for-profits Commission (ACNC) titled ‘Strengthening for Purpose:

The Federal Court in FCT v Eichmann [2019] FCA 2155 (Eichmann) held that land used for storage was not an active asset for purposes of the small business capital gains tax (CGT) concessions in Division 152 of the Income Tax Assessment Act 1997 (ITAA 1997).

This is the sixth in our international tax series.

In this article we recap and summarise previous articles as those articles relate to:

The Federal Government has introduced the Treasury Laws Amendment (2019 Measures No. 3) Bill 2019 (Bill), which seeks to ensure that tax concessions available to minors on income on distributions by the trustee of a testamentary trust will only apply in respect of income that is generated from assets of the deceased estate transferred to that testamentary trust (or the proceeds of the disposal or investment of those assets).

Treasury has released exposure draft Taxation Administration (Private Ancillary Fund) Guidelines 2019 (2019 Guidelines), in anticipation of the sunsetting of Private Ancillary Fund Guidelines 2009, which is scheduled to occur on 1 October 2019.  

The anonymity central to the very nature of cryptocurrency means that if access details are misplaced, they are often lost forever. Despite the continual development of new online wallets and marketplaces to acquire, store and transmit cryptocurrency, the potential for theft of cryptocurrency remains.

The Australian Taxation Office (ATO) will commence a data matching program to obtain information on insurance policies for lifestyle assets, including boats, yachts, enthusiast motor vehicles, thoroughbred race horses, fine art and aircrafts.