Legal news
On 9 May 2018 we reported to you new initiatives regarding proposed laws targeting illegal phoenix activity (https://sladen.com.au/news/2018/5/9/sladen-snippet-proposed-laws-targeting-illegal-phoenix-activity) announced by the Federal Government in the 2018/2019 Budget. Consistent with the proposed measures announced under the budget, the Federal Government has now:
In Ellison v Sandini Pty Ltd [2018] FCAFC 44, the Full Federal Court overturned decision which allowed Mr Sandini (the Taxpayer) to benefit from Capital Gains Tax (CGT) marriage breakdown rollover for the transfer of shares to an entity controlled by his former spouse, pursuant to a Family Court Order (FCO).
In Commissioner of Taxation v Miley, the Federal Court overturned decision of the Administrative Appeals Tribunal (AAT) concerning the share valuation method for the purposes of the maximum net asset value (MNAV) test in s 152-15 of the Income Tax Assessment Act 1997.
As previously reported in June this year, the Australian Taxation Office (ATO) published the Draft Taxation Determination TD 2017/D1 altering their previous published interpretation of the meaning of “distributes” for the purposes of the family trust distribution tax (FTDT).
The draft tax determination has now been published in its final form as TD 2017/20, confirming that FTDT can apply where there is a “distribution” to a person who is not a beneficiary of the trust.
The Corporations Amendment (Crowd-sourced Funding for Proprietary Companies) Bill 2017 was introduced into Parliament on 14 September 2017. If passed, as is expected, the Bill will extend the reach of the Crowd-sourced Equity Funding (CSEF) legislation that will at this stage apply only to public companies from 29 September 2017.
The Australian Taxation Office (ATO) published the final version of the Practical Compliance Guidelines (PCG) 2016/16, which provides guidance in relation to what will be considered by the Commissioner when exercising his discretion to treat an interest in the income or capital of a trust as being a fixed entitlement and by extension whether a trust is a fixed trust for the purposes of the tax law.
As previously discussed in this forum, changes to the Wine Equalisation Tax (WET) Rebate eligibility criteria and cap reduction were announced in December 2016 by the Turnbull Government. These reforms received assent on 23 August 2017 and bring significant changes to the entitlement to the WET producer rebate.
In light of the 2016-17 Federal Budget handed down earlier this year, followed by consultation with participants in the wine industry, the Turnbull Government has announced on 02 December 2016 reforms to the WET Rebate. The purpose of these reforms, as stated by Assistant Treasurer and Minister for Small Business, Kelly O’Dwyer is to address “distortions in the market through the misuse and exploitation of the WET Rebate scheme”.
On 10 October 2016, the Federal Government released an Exposure Draft to implement changes to the debt and equity tax rules in Division 974 of Income Tax Assessment Act 1997. The Exposure Draft is intended to effect recommendations made by the Board of Taxation in its April 2015 report Review of the Debt and Equity Tax Rules.
