Legal news
In the 2016-2017 Economic and Fiscal Outlook (http://www.budget.gov.au/2016-17/content/myefo/download/09-Appendix-A-Revenue.pdf), the Government announced that the Australian Taxation Office (ATO) would be allowed to report to credit reporting agencies the tax debt information of entities that don’t effectively engage with the ATO to manage those tax debts.
The recent case of FCT v Hacon illustrates the practical difficulties in obtaining a private ruling that depends on assumptions about future events - in particular, in the context of the application of Part IVA.
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.
Following an announcement in the 2017 Budget (see our article here), the Government on 6 November 2017 released exposure draft legislation which if enacted will, subject to a transitional rule (below), require from 1 July 2018 that purchasers of taxable supplies of new residential premises or new subdivisions of potential residential land pay 1/11 of the purchase price directly to the Australian Taxation Office (ATO) at settlement. The 1/11 of the purchase price is irrespective of whether the margin scheme or otherwise applies to calculate the actual GST liability.
The ATO has released a media release confirming its final position on its new event based reporting regime to be known as the transfer balance account report or “TBAR”.
In the 2017 Budget on 9 May 2017, the Government announced a proposed change to the CGT main residence exemption as that exemption applies to foreign and temporary tax residents. If enacted the announced change removed the CGT main residence exemption for foreign and temporary tax residents with effect from Budget night (9 May 2017).
