News

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...

The ATO has reported that the building and construction industry represents a disproportionate amount of its debt book, and has identified worrying trends that affect the industry. Clients in the industry are encouraged to contact us regarding outstanding debts, as the ATO may be able to offer a range of payment options to help them...

The Inland Revenue Authority of Singapore and the ATO have entered into an agreement on the automatic exchange of financial account information (based on the ‘Common Reporting Standard’). This automatic exchange of financial information will commence by September 2018.

The Treasurer has ordered the sale of a further 16 Australian residential properties that have been held by foreign nationals in breach of the foreign investment framework. “The 16 properties were purchased in Victoria, New South Wales, Queensland and Western Australia, with prices ranging from approximately $200,000 to $2 million. “The individuals involved come from...

The Department of Human Services (DHS) (which operates Centrelink) has launched its ‘Non Employment Income Data Matching project’, matching income data it collects from “customers” with tax return related data reported to the ATO. This project will assist the DHS to identify social welfare recipients who may not have disclosed income and assets to the...