The Commissioner has made a new offer to encourage voluntary disclosure of offshore income. The new offer is available until 30 June 2010 and its features are: if the additional taxable income is $20,000 or less in a tax year, no shortfall penalty is payable for that year; if the additional taxable income exceeds $20,000 [...]
The Commissioner has issued a practice statement on the way ATO officers are to approach Div 6 ITAA 1936 trust issues pending a determination by the High Court in the Bamford case on the special leave application and, if leave to appeal is granted, on the appeal (PS LA 2009/7). ATO staff should not select [...]
A taxpayer alert has been issued in relation to arrangements under which a taxpayer with a current or future capital gain attempts to artificially create an offsetting capital loss by becoming a default beneficiary for a discretionary trust (for no consideration) and then transferring their interest in that trust (for no consideration) (TA 2009/14). The [...]
A taxpayer alert has been released dealing with an arrangement under which taxpayers seek to re-characterise their shareholding status from that of a long term capital investor to a trader in shares. Taxpayers involved have claimed the CGT discount on previous receipts, but are now realising losses which they seek to claim as tax deductions [...]
In a decision impact statement issued on 25 February 2009, the Commissioner states that he accepts the decision of the AAT in Hornsby Shire Council & FCT ([2008] AATA 1060; 2008 ATC ¶10-061). In that case, CSR Ltd owned land in the Hornsby Shire. Because of the zoning of the land, CSR Ltd had the [...]
A taxpayer alert has been issued in relation to an arrangement that purportedly allows a landowner to register for GST as late as possible to minimise the GST payable under the margin scheme, but still claim a full input tax credit on its acquisition of construction services from its associate (TA 2009/4). The arrangements to [...]
A taxpayer alert has been issued in relation to an arrangement where an entity uses an associate in an attempt to secure input tax credits on the construction of residential premises for lease and defer the corresponding GST liability, in some cases indefinitely (TA 2009/5). The arrangements to which the taxpayer alert applies have some [...]
A taxpayer alert has been issued dealing with an arrangement where an entity attempts to bring forward an income tax deduction for a future obligation to rehabilitate a mine site (TA 2009/3). The arrangements have some or all of the following features: (1) A mining company has a future obligation to rehabilitate a mine site [...]
The Commissioner has issued a decision impact statement on the decision of the AAT (constituted by the President, Downes J) in Roche Products Pty Ltd v FCT ([2008] AATA 639). This was the first decision by an Australian tribunal or court in a substantive transfer pricing matter involving the application of the current Div 13 [...]
A taxpayer alert has been issued in relation to an arrangement using a Prepaid Forward Purchase Agreement which attempts to reduce the assessable income of an Australian resident taxpayer (TA 2009/2). The taxpayer alert is intended to apply to arrangements with some or all of the following features: a foreign resident (Foreign Sub) is a [...]
The Commissioner has released instructions for making an offshore voluntary disclosure statement on the approved form. All individuals, companies, corporate limited partnerships, partnerships and trusts (including superannuation funds and deceased estates) that want to take advantage of the offshore voluntary disclosure initiative can use the form to voluntarily disclose income omitted from their tax [...]
According to an interpretative decision, no part of the price the taxpayer paid to acquire a business of franchising was capital expenditure on acquiring confidential information, trade secrets and know-how of the business for which a deduction may be allowable under sec 40-880 ITAA 1997 (business related costs) (ID 2009/3). This was because the character [...]
An interpretative decision has been released which is to the effect that no proportion of the costs incurred by the proposed initial shareholders of a company in respect of establishing the company is included in the first element of the cost base of each of the shareholder’s initial shares (ID 2009/1). The expenditure was for [...]
The Commissioner has released a taxpayer alert dealing with arrangements incorrectly offering people early release of their preserved superannuation benefits prior to retirement without meeting statutory conditions for such release (TA 2009/1). The alert reiterates the ATO’s concerns about substantially similar arrangements to those described in TA 2002/3, as well as highlighting additional features of [...]
The Commissioner has issued a Decision Impact Statement dealing with the High Court’s decision in FCT v Futuris [2008] HCA 32 in which the taxpayers sought (unsuccessfully) to challenge the validity of a Part IVA ITAA 1936 assessment in proceedings (brought under sec 39B of the Judiciary Act) on the basis that the Commissioner had [...]
The Commissioner has issued a Decision Impact Statement dealing with the decision of Lindgren J in Kafataris v FCT [2008] FCA 1454. The issue for decision was whether CGT event E1 happened when a taxpayer’s interest in real property was placed on trust (a superannuation fund) of which the taxpayer was a member and whether [...]
A draft practice statement has been issued which sets out the circumstances in which the ATO may recover indirect taxes outside the statutory limit under the exceptions set out in sec 105-50 of Schedule 1 to the Taxation Administration Act 1953 (PS LA 2529 (draft)).
A practice statement has been released which provides guidance to ATO officers on the assessment of penalties when assessments which rely on adjustment provisions (including the general anti-avoidance provisions) are issued (PS LA 2008/18).
The ATO has released the 2007-08 annual report on developments in the advance pricing arrangement program.
Interpretative decisions were issued on the following topics: · assessable income: South African double tax agreement – trust income (ID 2008/150); · assessable income: United Kingdom double tax agreement – trust income (ID 2008/151); · assessable income: United States double tax agreement – trust income (ID 2008/152); and · withholding tax: lump sum amount payable [...]
A practice statement has been released which sets out the ATO policy regarding the corporate and legal requirements that must be followed when engaging internal or external legal service providers for litigation, legal advice or other legal services, or when engaging the services of alternative dispute resolution practitioners (PS LA 2008/17).
The ATO has announced the membership of the Large Business Advisory Group and has released an overview of the activities of the group.
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29 Sep 2010
Amending Bills reintroduced
Several amending Bills, including the Tax Laws Amendment (2010 Measures No 4) Bill 2010, were reintroduced into Federal ..
15 Sep 2010
Freezing orders continued
The Federal Court has continued freezing orders against five foreign corporations which had never filed tax returns in A..
31 Aug 2010
Penalty for recklessness
The Federal Court has allowed the Commissioner's appeal against a decision of the AAT and held that the taxpayer had fai.. |