New Phoenix Laws
Illegal phoenix activity and the plans to fight it have been the focus of a run of headlines in both the mainstream and financial press. And for good reason: the impact is significant and widespread, affecting the business community, employees, contractors and government. In fact, a report commissioned by the Phoenix Taskforce and released in […]
Financial Abuse
Financial abuse may not be a common topic, yet statistically, it is a common problem (e.g. “Financial abuse is reaching epidemic proportions” – Women’s Information and Referral Exchange (WIRE), April 2018). Australian’s often hide their finances from others – we don’t usually tell people how much we earn, or the value of our portfolios. This […]
Work vehicles exempted from FBT?
The Australian Taxation Office (“ATO“) recently released Practical Compliance Guidance PCG 2018/3 (PCG 2018/3) to help employers determine whether the private use of work vehicles is “minor, infrequent and irregular”. The guidelines are important because excessive private use of work vehicles disqualifies those vehicles from being fully exempt from Fringe Benefits Tax (“FBT“). Employers now […]
DPNs to GST?
As part of the 2018 Federal Budget, the Government announced a package of reforms aimed at addressing illegal phoenix activity. One of the more significant measures is to extend the Director Penalty Regime to Goods and Services Tax (“GST“) and other indirect tax debts of a company. The Director Penalty Regime allows the Commissioner to make […]
Tax changes for trust splitting
A draft taxation determination released recently has triggered some alarm among trustees that certain previously benign trust re-arrangements may soon lead to new tax obligations being attached. TD 2018/D3 posits that certain trust split arrangements should be viewed as the creation of a new trust over some, but not all, of the assets held by the […]
Concerns over Safe Harbour Provisions
The option of an informal workout for struggling companies has become far more attractive thanks to the introduction of safe harbour laws, in addition to a more accommodating banking and tax recovery environment. The safe harbour regime was introduced on 19 September 2017, when amendments to Australia’s insolvency laws came into effect. Despite the build […]
CGT Main Resident Exemption Loss
As most readers will know, prior to 1985 Australia had no general tax on capital gains. But after the Capital Gains Tax (“CGT“) regime was introduced in that year (September 19 specifically), the main residence exemption has been a feature ever since. While there have been a number of changes and clarifications to the specifics […]
Super Amnesty
Like never before, now is the time for employers to check that their minimum superannuation guarantee payments are in order or risk significant penalties. Superannuation guarantee amnesty On 24 May this year, the Federal Government announced a twelve month amnesty for employers to pay any unpaid employee superannuation entitlements for all quarters up to March […]
FBT for Schools
You may be aware that draft Taxation Ruling TR 2018/D2, Fringe benefits tax: benefits provided to religious practitioners (‘TR 2018/D2’) was recently issued for comment. It seeks to provide guidance as to the application of the FBT legislation in respect of whether benefits provided to religious practitioners of religious institutions may be treated as exempt […]
What is my Tax Rate?
As a result of some confusion, the Federal Government has introduced legislation to confirm when a company is eligible to be classified as a Small Business Entity and be taxed at the 27.5% tax rate. The proposed new legislation is contained in Treasury Laws Amendment (Enterprise Tax Plan Base Rate Entities) Bill 2017. The proposed […]
