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.

As a result of the commencement of the new super laws on 1 July 2017, Sladen Legal has prepared a number of document packages.

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 8 March 2017, the Government released its latest consultation paper on the foreign investment framework. 

In the digital age, brands are increasingly making use of innovative marketing and advertising such as native or integrated advertising, social media accounts, bloggers and Instagram influencers. These strategies have been shown to increase audience engagement and brand awareness, and are an effective use of a marketing budget. 

The Fair Work Commission’s (FWC) long-awaited decision on penalty rates applying on weekends, public holidays and late nights has been handed down this morning.

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 the new super laws commencing from 1 July 2017, advisors and trustees of self managed superannuation funds (SMSFs) are starting to consider whether they need to update their SMSF trust deed or their pension documents.

In September 2016, an article written by Sladen Legal's Phil Broderick, Will Monotti and Ashleigh Eynaud was published in the Tax Institute’s Journal, Taxation in Australia.

This article addresses how trust deed variation clauses vary from trust to trust and gives examples of some of the problematic ones we’ve seen.

The ATO has released answers to frequently asked questions (FAQs) on the ATO’s safe harbour rules for related party limited recourse borrowing arrangement (LRBA) loans to super funds. The safe harbour rules are contained in PCG 2016/5 and have been discussed in a previous snippet. 

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.

There seems to be some confusion about the fate of transition to retirement income streams (TRIS). TRISs will not be abolished from 1 July 2017. Rather, they will no longer qualify for “pension phase” (or retirement phase under the new terminology). 

The new super laws are the biggest changes to super since 2007. Given that most of the measures commence on 1 July 2017, there are a number of planning matters to consider prior (and after) that date.