Legal news
The Australian Taxation Office (ATO) has issued Taxation Determination TD 2021/2 that contains the ATO view that companies which carry on a business will be unable to benefit from the small business capital gains tax (CGT) concessions if the relevant asset is mainly used to derive rent (TD 2021/2 was issued as Draft TD 2019/D4 that we discussed here).
With news and social media feeds being filled with tales of cryptocurrency (in particular bitcoin) prices fluctuating many taxpayers are making, or considering making, investments. However before jumping in taxpayers should understand that the anonymity that was originally touted as the shining crown of cryptocurrencies is not the invisibility cloak many may think it to be. What does the ATO really know about your cryptocurrency holdings and what do you need to disclose?
Sladen Legal have launched Sladen Smart, an online membership providing access to premium legal resources. This exciting new offering will give professionals on demand access to interactive content and publications not publicly available and also includes impressive discounts on their online service offerings.
An intermediary limited recourse borrowing arrangement (LRBA) differs from a standard LRBA in that the bare trustee, rather than the SMSF trustee, enters into an LRBA borrowing as principal with a lender.
Land transfer duty is calculated on the dutiable value of the property. In Commissioner of State Revenue (Vic) v 1043 Melton Highway Pty Ltd [2020] VSC 820, the Supreme Court considered default interest is included in ‘consideration’ for the transfer of dutiable property.
In the recent decision of AWF Prop Co 2 Pty Ltd and Ararat Wind Farm Pty Ltd v Ararat Rural City Council and Valuer General Victoria [2020] VSC 853, the Supreme Court of Victoria ruled in favour of the wind farm owners and determined the various wind farm assets (such as wind turbines) to be chattels rather than fixtures.
We Aussies like to shorten everything. So, it comes as no surprise that the Australian Domain Administration (auDA) has announced plans to make available a shortened Australian country domain by releasing a brand new second-level domain (2LD) for eligible Australian businesses – the highly anticipated <.au> namespace.
As discussed here, the decision in Dental Corporation Pty Ltd v Moffet [2020] FCAFC 118 (16 June 2020) (Moffet) marked an important shift in how the courts have interpreted the employee/contractor distinction for the purposes of superannuation guarantee obligations.
The ATO has released a private binding ruling (Ruling) on the deductibility of certain expenses incurred by a self managed superannuation fund (SMSF) trustee in managing the SMSF’s share portfolio.
Payroll tax is a state and territory tax. It is assessed where total Australian taxable wages paid or payable to employees by an employer exceed specific thresholds. The tax is self-assessed and as such the obligation falls to employers to ensure they are aware of their total wage bill across Australian states and territories and whether those are taxable.
Many state and federal taxing provisions provide different tax outcomes on the trustees of trusts depending on what type of trust is involved. One example of this is contained in the NSW land tax rules which provides for a land tax surcharge on unit trusts that are “special trusts” rather than “fixed trusts”.
Where services are performed wholly in one Australian jurisdiction, payroll tax will be payable in that jurisdiction. For example Aaron is a receptionist and fully performs his job at an office in regional Victoria. His employer qualifies for payroll tax being charged at the regional rate, Aaron’s wages will be payable in Victoria at regional rates.
A surprise inclusion in the Federal Government’s Mid-Year Economic and Fiscal Outlook (MYEFO) could mean good news for recipients of certain non-commutable ‘legacy’ pensions.
