Greenwoods and Freehills Weekly Tax Highlights 2.11.07-9.11.07

ATO Documents

Released 7.11.07

Class Rulings
CR 2007/102: Income tax: share buy-back: Foster's Group Limited
CR 2007/103: Income tax: early retirement scheme - Catholic Education, Diocese of Rockhampton
Product Rulings
PR 2007/92: Income tax: 1996 Timbercorp Eucalypts Project
Draft Taxation Determination
TD 2007/D16: Income tax: can section 177EA of the Income Tax Assessment Act 1936 apply to the issue of 'dollar value' convertible notes of the type described in this Taxation Determination?

Released 9.11.07

Interpretative Decisions
ATO ID 2007/200: Liability to fringe benefits tax: Commonwealth Statutory Agency
ATO ID 2007/201: Excise: mixing locally produced and imported ethanol
ATO ID 2007/202: Excise: beer used in the manufacture of a non-excisable product 
ATO ID 2007/203: Excise: home consumption - delivered - prepaid entry
Withdrawn Interpretative Decision
ATO ID 2002/61: UK annuity income - joint interests - determining extent of assessability to taxpayer
ATO ID 2002/123: Assessability of investment related cash prize received by holder of United Kingdom investment
ATO ID 2002/125: Assessability of an Australian sourced pension paid to a resident of Canada
ATO ID 2002/186: Assessability of an Australian sourced pension paid to a resident of the United States
ATO ID 2002/191: Assessability of superannuation annuity received from non-resident fund by a resident taxpayer
ATO ID 2002/202: Assessability of an Australian sourced pension paid to a resident of the United Kingdom
ATO ID 2002/280: Double tax - Assessability of an Australian sourced pension received by a resident of Switzerland
ATO ID 2002/500: Income tax: status of an allocated annuity paid by an Australian life insurance company to a resident of a country with which Australia has a Double Tax Agreement
ATO ID 2002/501: Income Tax: status of an allocated pension paid by an Australian superannuation fund to a resident of a country with which Australia has a Double Tax Agreement
ATO ID 2003/45: Assessability of an Australian sourced pension paid to a resident of The Philippines
ATO ID 2003/298: Assessability of Australian sourced superannuation pension paid to a resident of Poland
ATO ID 2003/680: Assessability of Australian sourced government superannuation pension received by a resident of France
ATO ID 2003/717: Assessability of Swedish superannuation pension received by an Australian resident
ATO ID 2004/547: Assessability of United Kingdom (UK) government pension received by an Australian resident
ATO ID 2004/549: Assessability of United Kingdom (UK) annuity received by an Australian resident
ATO ID 2004/550: Assessability of annuity paid from South African superannuation fund to an Australian resident
ATO ID 2004/778: Assessability of retirement pension received from France by a resident taxpayer which includes amounts not assessable for French tax purposes
ATO ID 2005/153: Assessability of an Australian superannuation pension received by a resident of the United Kingdom
ATO ID 2005/259: Assessability of government pension income received by an Australian resident from the United States 
ATO ID 2006/166: Assessability of an allocated pension from an Australian resident public superannuation fund received by a resident of Japan 

Released 9.11.07

The Commissioner of Taxation has released a speech in which he spoke about a range of tax and superannuation issues. The Commissioner's  speech touched on several topics including the planned expansion of the pre-filling of tax returns,  record keeping, a specialist booking system for tax agents who call about CGT issues and this year's compliance activities relating to superfunds. 

Tax Cases

Bruton Holdings Pty Limited (in liq) v FCT [2007] FCA 1643, 2 November 2007: The Federal Court has held that a notice issued by the Commissioner was void under the Corporations Act. The Court found that the notice had been put into force after the passing of a resolution for the voluntary winding up of the company.   

Francis and FCT, AAT Case [2007] AATA 1927, 6 November 2007: The AAT has confirmed the Commissioner's decision to refuse a taxpayer an extension of time to lodge a late objection. The Tribunal found that as neither party had kept relevant records, reopening the assessments some fifteen years after the initial objection would be unfairly prejudicial to the Commissioner. 

Dorn and FCT, AAT Case [2007] AATA 1919, AAT, 31 October 2007: The Commissioner had allowed the taxpayer deductions for his non-capital cash outlays in a tea tree project but denied him a deduction for the purchase of shares in the company that ran the project. The Tribunal found that the taxpayer had no right of review and dismissed his application to have the Commissioner's decision struck out.