News

See what you should be aware of and what the new laws could mean for your future goals. The government’s May 2016 Federal Budget proposals and several subsequent modifications to its plans around super reform passed through both houses of parliament at the end of November. With new regulations set to become part of Australian...

The government has finally legislated the tax cuts originally announced in the May 2016 Budget, so that the marginal tax rate of 37% now starts at $87,000. The following are the rates for adult residents for the 2016/17 income year (i.e., from 1 July 2016). Taxable income Tax on this income 0 – $18,200 Nil...

The government’s extensive changes to the taxation laws regarding superannuation were passed by Parliament on 23 November 2016.  According to the Treasurer, Mr Scott Morrison: “The superannuation reform package better targets tax concessions to make our superannuation system fair and sustainable, as the population ages and fiscal pressures increase. “The reforms include the introduction of...

The ATO has announced it is embarking on the following three (major) data matching programs. Share transactions data matching program The share transactions data matching program has been conducted since 2006 to ensure compliance with taxation obligations on the disposal of shares and similar securities.  The collection of transaction history data dating back to 20...

The ATO has released a taxation determination regarding how it will apply the non-arm’s length income (‘NALI’) rules to income generated from assets purchased by an SMSF using a related party ‘limited recourse borrowing arrangement’ (or ‘LRBA’). Although the ATO states that: “in some very limited circumstances, the NALI provisions may not apply to an...

The AAT has held that GST applied to the disposal of four properties that had been built, leased and then sold. GST does not ordinarily apply to sale of residential premises unless they are ‘new residential premises’.  However, there is a special rule in the GST law that states that a newly constructed property will...

The ATO has announced that it will be contacting some SMSF trustees in November 2016 to participate in a survey about the use of ‘limited recourse borrowing arrangements’ (‘LRBAs’) to acquire assets for their SMSF. The ATO will email a sample of SMSFs that reported LRBA assets on their 2015 SMSF annual return to invite...

Where a buyer commences to hold all of the shares in a company (including a company acting as trustee of a trust), they are highly likely to be appointed as a director of that company. Although being a director in itself does not make the director personally liable for the debts of the company, there...

In a recent case, the AAT confirmed that a taxpayer was a resident of Australia for taxation purposes while he was living in Oman. The taxpayer had left Australia in January 2008 to work in Oman, and he ended up working 21 months in Oman before returning to Australia permanently in September 2009. Before leaving...

The ATO has issued an information sheet to let taxpayers know that money earned from renting out a room in a house is rental income. This applies to rooms rented by traditional means or through a sharing economy website or app. Also, taxpayers can only claim expenses related to the part of the house they...