The enforceability of vendor restraint clauses contained in sale of business agreements is currently under review in the Supreme Court of Victoria in the case of Southern Cross Computer Systems P/L (ACN 005 770 598) and Ingenio Group P/L (ACN 610 396 748) v Palmer, Christopher Anthony; Faithfull, Jamie and Jakimoski, Zoran [2017] VSC 412.

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.

In May 2015, the Victorian Auditor-General’s Office produced a report which was titled ‘Victoria’s Consumer Protection Framework for Building Construction’. The report was highly critical of the level of protection given to consumers in the domestic building space.

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).

As reported in our previous Sladen Snippet, the Australian Taxation Office (ATO) is currently developing a new self managed superannuation fund (SMSF) event based reporting regime to be called the Transfer Balance Account Report or TBAR.

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).

Self managed superannuation funds (SMSFs) are not required to obtain an actuarial certificate if 100% of the SMSF is in “pension phase” for 100% of the year. That is, the SMSF uses the segregated method for the whole year. But what happens for SMSFs that use the segregated method for the 2017 year but, because of the transfer balance cap measure, have to commute back their pensions to $1.6 million by 30 June 2017?

On 31 May 2017, Phil Broderick of Sladen Legal presented at a SISFA webinar on the new super laws and estate planning. His presentation covered:

The Fair Work Commission (FWC) has just handed down 2 significant decisions, namely the Annual Wage Review decision and the rollout of the decision to reduce Sunday and Public Holiday penalty rates in select awards. These decisions will have implications for employers from 1 July 2017.

The Treasury Laws Amendment (2017 Measures No. 2) Bill 2017 has been tabled in Parliament. The Bill proposes to make two important changes to transition to retirement income streams (TRISs). Firstly, to allow certain TRISs to qualify for “retirement phase” and, secondly, to ensure TRISs qualify for the cost base reset.

As part of administering the new transfer balance cap measure, the Australian Taxation Office (ATO) is currently developing a new self managed superannuation fund (SMSF) event based reporting regime. This regime is likely to be in the form of a report to be called the Transfer Balance Account Report or TBAR. At this stage, the reporting regime is expected to be as follows:

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.

In the landmark decision of Fair Work Ombudsman v Blue Impression Pty Ltd & Ors [2017] FCCA 810, the Federal Circuit Court has found that Melbourne accounting firm, Ezy Accounting 123 Pty Ltd (Ezy Accounting), was knowingly involved and accessorially liable for its client’s failure to pay its employees award rates of pay.

In a welcome move, the ATO has announced that it will extend the lodgement date for 2015/16 SMSF annual tax returns to 30 June 2017

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.

Well maybe not no news, but it will certainly be a relief to the super industry that the 2017 Federal Budget has largely left super untouched.

In April 2017, Sladen Legal’s Phil Broderick presented - Super reforms: What you need to do before 30 June 2017 for the Television Education Network.

In March 2017, Sladen Legal’s Phil Broderick presented - An overview of the super reforms – for the Television Education Network.