On 21 February 2023 Revenue NSW announced that it has been determined that NSW surcharge purchaser duty and surcharge land tax (Surcharge Provisions) are inconsistent with international tax treaties entered into by the Australian Federal Government with New Zealand, Finland, Germany, and South Africa (Treaty Countries).

The introduction of windfall gains tax under the Windfall Gains Tax and State Taxation and Other Acts Further Amendment Act 2021 (Vic) (Act) has been highly controversial from the outset due to real concerns as to whether the tax truly captures a purported “windfall” by landowners who rezone land in Victoria and its punitive tax rate of 50% of such gains.

After industry pushback against the disproportionate application of the non-arm’s length income (NALI) and non-arm’s length expenses (NALE) rules, Treasury has a released a discussion paper to modify the application of the NALI/NALE rules.

The High Court of Australia has dismissed the special leave application by the taxpayer, Vicinity Funds Re Ltd (Taxpayer) to appeal from a decision of the Court of Appeal of the Supreme Court of Victoria (Court of Appeal).   

In an interesting development, the ATO has released a warning in relation to SMSFs entering into gift and loan back arrangements.

On 23 November 2022, the Australian Tax Office (ATO) released Taxation Ruling TR 2022/3, finalising its views on personal services income (PSI) and personal services businesses (PSB).

In the recent Victorian Civil and Administrative Tribunal (Tribunal) decision in Lavender Rain Pty Ltd v Commissioner of State Revenue (Review and Regulation) [2022] VCAT 1264 (Lavender Rain) the primary production land tax exemption for urban zoned land was denied on the basis that the land owning company operated a number of businesses, including the entering into a property development agreement.

On 19 September 2022, Justice Thawley of the Federal Court handed down his decision in BBlood Enterprises Pty Ltd v FCT [2022] FCA 1112 (BBlood), the most recent decision on section 100A of the Income Tax Assessment Act 1936. The Australian Taxation Office (ATO) was successful in arguing that section 100A applied.

The recent Federal Court decision of Minerva Financial Group Pty Ltd v Commissioner of Taxation [2022] FCA 1092 (Minerva) signifies that the Federal Commissioner of Taxation (Commissioner) can successfully scrutinise a trustee’s discretion under the general anti-avoidance provisions (Part IVA).

In a joint media statement on 22 August 2022, The Hon Stephen Jones MP, Assistant Treasurer, Minister for Financial Services and The Hon Dr Andrew Leigh MP, Assistant Minister for Competition, Charities and Treasury confirmed that the Government is to commence consultation on a framework for the regulation of crypto assets.

In the absence of a comprehensive definition of ‘foreign currency’ in the Australian tax legislation the ATO and Australian courts have interpreted ‘foreign currency’ to be currency issued or recognised by an overseas sovereign state.

The Queensland state government has recently introduced a number of changes to the manner in which state taxes are administered and collected in Queensland.

The Victorian Court of Appeal’s decision in Owies v JJE Nominees Pty Ltd [2022] VSCA 142 (Owies) will surprise many trustees of discretionary trusts and their advisors. Effectively, the Court found that the decision of the corporate trustee (controlled by the parents of the family) of a discretionary trust not to properly consider two of their children (who were estranged from them), when making annual distributions from the trust, was voidable (and potentially void).

We wrote about Draft Taxation Determination TD 2022/D1 (Draft TD) on Division 7A and unpaid present entitlements (UPEs) here. On 12 July 2022, the Australian Taxation Office (ATO) finalised the Draft TD as Taxation Determination TD 2022/11 (Final TD).

A quick reminder of the new superannuation measures which are effective as of 1 July 2022:

In the absence of a comprehensive definition of ‘foreign currency’ in the Australia tax legislation the ATO and Australian courts have interpreted ‘foreign currency’ to be currency issued or recognised by an overseas sovereign state.

After a contract of sale becoming unconditional any delays in settlement may result in interest payable in accordance with the terms of the sale contract (Late Settlement Interest).

Draft Taxation Determination TD 2022/D1 sets out the Australian Taxation Office’s (ATO) views on when an unpaid present entitlement (UPE) with a corporate beneficiary is a loan for the purposes of Division 7A of the Income Tax Assessment Act 1936. We wrote about TD 2022/D1 here.

The State Revenue and Fines Legislation Amendments (Miscellaneous) Act 2022 (NSW) (Act) received Royal Assent on 19 May 2022.