Legal news
The recent Full Federal Court decision of Pintarich v Deputy Commissioner of Taxation [2018] FCAFC 79 dismissing the taxpayer’s appeal, considered whether a letter (the ATO Letter) from the Australian Taxation Office (ATO) purportedly remitting the taxpayer’s general Interest charge (GIC) amounted to a ‘decision’ by the Commissioner of Taxation (Commissioner).
On 21 June 2018, Senator David Leyonhjelm of the Liberal Democratic Party Treasury proposed in the Senate that the amendments to the CGT small business concessions in the Treasury Laws Amendment (Tax Integrity and Other Measures) Bill 2018 (the Bill) apply, if passed, from 8 February 2018 (when the Bill was released in Exposure Draft form) rather than 1 July 2017 (as originally announced in the May 2017 Budget).
The recent Federal Court decision of Harding v FCT [2018] FCA 837 illustrates the difficulties of an Australian expatriate arguing they were resident of a foreign country, and thereby not an Australian tax resident.
With seven sitting days left in the current financial year, the Tax Laws Amendment (Enterprise Tax Plan Base Rate Entities) Bill 2017 (the Bill), that proposes to deny the lower 27.5% corporate tax rate to corporate tax entities with less than $25 million of turnover that derive predominantly (80% or more) passive income has not been debated by the Parliament since 12 February 2018. This Bill, if passed and assented to, will apply from 1 July 2017. That is, for the current income year.
As has been standard fare for the property industry over the last few years, a new financial year will bring in a number of changes to the development and sales process. It is important that developers are aware of these changes, and begin taking steps to comply with the new requirements in order to avoid any delays or other adverse implications once the amendments take effect.
Today, the Expert Panel for annual wage reviews (Panel) of the Fair Work Commission (Commission) has held that it is appropriate to increase the modern award minimum wages by 3.5 per cent. The national minimum wage (NMW) will now be $719.20 per week (that is, $18.93 per hour). The determinations and order giving effect to the Panel’s decision will come into operation on 1 July 2018.
On 17 May 2018, the ATO updated its practice statement (PS LA 2008/6) providing for a more robust and comprehensive process before the Commissioner can form an opinion there has been fraud or evasion. Where the Commissioner forms an opinion there has been fraud or evasion by a taxpayer in a particular income year, he then has an unlimited amendment period in which to raise an amended assessment outside of the usual 2 or 4-year time limits.
The Government has released a bill that provides a “one off” 12 month amnesty to encourage employers to self-correct historical super guarantee non-compliance.
The Government has released a bill to “add back” limited recourse borrowing arrangement (LRBA) loans in the calculation of a member’s total superannuation balance (TSB).
The Government has released a bill to extend the application of the non-arm’s length income (NALI) rules to income and capital gains gained or produced under arrangements involving non-arm’s length expenditure. The genesis of this measure was non-commercial limited recourse borrowing arrangement (LRBA) loans but the proposed legislation applies to all arrangements where there is non-arm’s length expenditure or costs and also to arrangements where assets are acquired for under market value consideration.
The recent Federal Court decision of Rowntree v FCT [2018] FCA 182, (Rowntree) dismissing the taxpayer’s appeal, considered whether amounts received by the taxpayer were income rather than loan receipts.
