The federal government has released for consultation the first tranche of super changes announced in the 2016 federal budget. 

On 6 September, 2016 Sladen Legal delivered an event titled Complex estate planning in a complex world.

In it the following issues were examined:

The Government has confirmed that the proposed increase of the aggregated turnover threshold to $10 million applies to the Small Business Restructure Roll-over relief.

From 10 October 2016, IP Australia fees for applications, registrations, oppositions and the sale of documents for trade marks, designs and patents are changing.

Sladen Legal’s Phil Broderick was invited to present at The Tax Institute’s National Superannuation Conference. His topic was titled “SMFSs and Dividend Stripping and Dividend Washing Arrangements”.

Sladen Snippet – ATO gives further guidance on its 2016/17 priorities for SMSFs and recent enforcement actions

Following on from its recent decision to vary the rules around annual leave the Fair Work Commission (Commission) has developed a new standard Time Off in Lieu of Overtime (TOIL) provision. 

The Supreme Court of New South Wales, in the decision of Bideena Pty Ltd as trustee for the Bideena Pty Ltd Superannuation Fund, has confirmed that the trustee of a SMSF does not always require judicial advice as to whether the trustee will have a right to indemnify itself out of the SMSF assets for legal costs in pursuing litigation.

In a recent speech, James O’Halloran, Deputy Commissioner of Superannuation, Australian Taxation Office (ATO), announced that the ATO will focus on the following self managed superannuation fund (SMSF) issues during 2016/17:

Recent correspondence from the United Kingdom’s revenue authority (HMRC) has confirmed that the HMRC will not register a self managed superannuation fund (SMSF) as a Qualifying Recognised Overseas Pension Scheme (QROPS) unless the SMSF trust deed limits the membership to persons who are aged 55+.

Foreign person duty and land tax surcharges; Of particular interest is the application of the foreign trust provisions to discretionary trusts.

The Federal Court ordered that a self managed superannuation fund (SMSF) trustee pay a fine of $40K and the ATO’s costs of $14K for various loans made by the SMSF trustee in breach of the super laws.

The recent Federal Court decision of Ievers v Superannuation Complaints Tribunal considered the question of whether a de facto relationship had ended for the purpose of determining who should receive a super death benefit.

The Fair Work Commission has recently issued a decision that will allow most employees to cash out some of their annual leave entitlements, based on altering the terms of modern awards. 

Sladen Legal’s Phil Broderick was recently invited to present at the Television Education Network’s 4th Annual SMSF Audit Conference. His topic was titled “Recent Tax and Regulatory Developments Affecting SMSF Audit”. 

In the latest instalment of a long running international battle between the Wild Geese and Wild Turkey alcohol brands, the Full Federal Court has found that trade mark owners can lose their registrations if they do not exercise proper control over their licensees.

In the April 2016 Edition of the Taxation Institute’s journal ‘Taxation in Australia’, appeared an article entitled ‘Disclaimer of an interest in a trust – can this be tax effective?’ 

In May 2016, " Creating Entitlements in Discretionary Trusts " written by Sladen Legal's Amanda Morton was published in the Tax Institute’s Journal, Taxation in Australia.

In its recent decision in The Executors of the Estate of the late Peter Fowler and Commissioner of Taxation, the Administrative Appeals Tribunal (AAT) held that Mr Fowler was not entitled to apply the small business capital gains tax (CGT) concessions in Division 152 of the Income Tax Assessment Act 1997, on the sale of a block of 10 residential units (Manly Property) as he was not carrying on a business and the Manly Property did not qualify as an “active asset”.

The Victorian Government has passed legislation to increase the duty surcharge on purchasers of residential property by foreign persons to 7% for contracts entered into from 1 July 2016. The changes contain a number of other changes to the foreign purchaser duty regime.