The Administrative Appeals Tribunal (AAT) recently held in the case of MSAUS v FC of T that Division 135 of the Good and Services Tax (GST) Act did not apply to impose an increasing adjustment [an amount of GST on an otherwise GST-free transaction] to the sale of leased residential apartments

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.

Further to our previous snippets on the ATO’s new transfer balance report (TBAR) regime (see here and here), the ATO has announced that it will consult on two alternative options for the TBAR regime.

Practical Compliance Guideline (PCG) 2017/13 confirms the ability for a sub-trust arrangement using the 7-year option 1 investment agreement to be converted into a compliant loan, as described under section 109-N of Income Tax Assessment Act 1936 (ITAA 36). The ability to refinance UPE for an additional 7 years may be advantageous to taxpayers that would otherwise have been required to repay such arrangements by either 30 June 2017 or 30 June 2018.

The Australian Taxation Office (ATO) has released for public comment draft Practical Compliance Guideline (PCG) 2017/D12, which gives guidance to the legal personal representative (LPR) of a deceased person as to circumstances where the LPR may be personally liable for the deceased’s tax liability.

As part of the Victorian State Budget, a number of stamp duty changes have been proposed, many of which have received significant media attention (including the abolition of the off the plan duty concession for investors, the abolition of stamp duty for some first home buyers, and the removal of the blanket duty exemption for transfers between spouses).

The ATO has published a new draft taxation determination that alters their previous published interpretation of the meaning of “distributes” for the purposes of the family trust distribution tax (FTDT).

There is some good news and some bad news with the ATO’s release of Practical Compliance Guide PCG 2017/6. The good news is that spouses in receipt of death benefit pensions may commute their death benefit pensions in excess of the transfer balance cap back into accumulation before 1 July 2017. The bad news is that this concession does not apply to non-spouses and won’t apply after 30 June 2017.

It was announced as part of the 2017 Federal Budget that from 1 July 2018, purchasers of “newly constructed residential premises” or “new land subdivisions” will be required to remit GST directly to the Australian Taxation Office as part of settlement. Details have not yet been provided on how this measure will be implemented or operate.

The Victorian government has announced in its 2017 budget that it plans to abolish, from 1 July 2017, the spouse to spouse duty exemption, unless it is a transfer of a principal place of residence or a transfer as a result of a relationship breakdown.

The Australian Taxation Office (ATO) has released Practical Compliance Guideline PCG 2017/5 which gives guidance as to how trustees of self managed superannuation funds (SMSFs) can commute pensions by 30 June 2017 in order to comply with the new transfer balance cap measure.

On 28 February 2017, Sladen Legal’s Phil Broderick, Melissa Colaluca and Rob Jeremiah gave presentations on the new super laws.

In February 2017, Phil Broderick of Sladen legal article was published “Units trusts and cost base resets under the TBC” in the Tax Institute’s Journal, Taxation in Australia.

In January 2017 “Deemed to be a “fixed trust” – draft guidelines” written by Sladen Legal's Daniel Smedley and Patricia Martins was published in the Tax Institute’s Journal, Taxation in Australia.

In November 2016, "Are foreign trusts the new black?” written by Sladen Legal’s Phil Broderick was published in The Tax Institute Journal, Taxation in Australia.

The Treasury Laws Amendment (Enterprise Tax Plan) Bill 2016 was recently passed by the Senate containing amendments to progressively reduce the corporate tax rate and increase the small business turnover thresholds for access to small business tax concessions. 

The High Court of Australia has recently allowed an appeal against a decision of the Victoria Court of Appeal and held that the Commissioner was not under a duty to issue amended assessments and refund an excess amount of land tax that has erroneously been paid by a taxpayer.

The Administrative Appeals Tribunal (AAT) has recently held that tax losses were not available to a partner in a property development partnership.

On 25 January 2017, the Commissioner of Taxation (Commissioner) released Taxation Determination, TD 2017/1 (Determination) concerning whether intangible capital improvements made to a pre-CGT asset can be a separate asset for the purpose of subsections 108-70(2) or (3) of the Income Tax Assessment Act 1997.

With that date fast approaching it is important that SMSF trustees look to rectify any outstanding related party non-commercial LRBA loans in the next couple of weeks.