Greenwoods and Freehills Weekly Tax Highlights 7.3.08 - 14.3.08
ATO Documents
Released 12.3.08 Class Rulings
CR 2008/23: Fringe benefits tax: employer clients of Super Group International (Australia) Pty Limited or SMB Fleet Management Pty Limited who make use of the SMB Cafe Card facility
CR 2008/24: Fringe benefits tax: employer clients of Australia and New Zealand Banking Group Limited who are subject to the provisions of section 57A of the Fringe Benefits Tax Assessment Act 1986 whose employees make use of the ANZ Business One - Salary Packaging Card facility
CR 2008/25: Fringe benefits tax: employer clients of Corporate Care Australia Pty Limited whose employees receive a Corporate Advantage Card
Product Rulings
PR 2008/23: Income tax: Piangil Grower Project - 2008
PR 2008/24: Income tax: Rewards Group Tropical Fruits Project 2008
PR 2008/25: Income tax: Macquarie Almond Investment 2008 - Early Growers (to 15 June 2008)
Released 13.3.08
Taxpayer Alerts
TA 2008/2: Use of certain legal structures established in Liechtenstein to attempt to avoid or evade Australian tax obligations
Released 14.3.08
Interpretative Decision
ATO ID 2008/41: GST and the transfer between funeral providers of rights and obligations under a prepaid funeral agreement: the original funeral provider accounts on a basis other than cash (non-cash basis)
ATO ID 2008/42: Shared Equity Agreement: Division 16E of the Income Tax Assessment Act 1936
Foreign Source Income Anti-Tax-Deferral Regimes
Released 12.3.08
The Board of Taxation has announced the release of the Board's position paper on possible reforms to Australia's Foreign Source Income Anti-Tax-Deferral Regimes which include the CFC rules, the FIF rules, the transferor trust rules and the deemed present entitlement rules. The position paper sets out the Board's considered views on the high level principles that should apply in the future design of the foreign source income attribution rules. The proposals in the paper represent important (and generally beneficial) changes to the scope and operation of these regimes. The Board proposes releasing further papers and conducting more consultation on selected issues before submitting its final report to the Government later this year. Greenwoods and Freehills has produced a Tax Brief on the position paper which can be accessed by clicking here.
Appeals Update
Brady King Pty Ltd v FCT [2008] FCA 81: The taxpayer has appealed to the Full Federal Court. The Federal Court had held that a taxpayer was not entitled to calculate its GST liability pursuant to the valuation method contained in s 75-10(3) of the GST Act for stratum units sold.Tax Cases
McCutcheon v FCT [2008] FCA 318, 12 March 2008: The Federal Court has dismissed the taxpayers' appeal. The case involved the application of Pt IVA to variations to a trust structure to eliminate the tax on the sale of a business.
On appeal, the taxpayers argued that, in respect of the amended assessment that issued to the taxpayer wife, the Pt IVA determination that gave rise to it was ineffective as the Commissioner had simultaneously made an alternative determination in respect of the same income and identifying the same "tax benefit" to another taxpayer (namely, the above trust). They also argued that the prior history of trust distributions showed that the amounts would never have been distributed to the husband and wife taxpayers. However, the Federal Court dismissed both these arguments.Coal Developments (German Creek) Pty Ltd ACN 009 974 894 v FCT (2008), 11 March 2008: The Full Federal Court has confirmed that the "same business test" did not apply to allow a taxpayer to claim a deduction for carried forward losses after it had sold its interest in a coal development joint venture. The Full Federal Court agreed with the lower Court's decision that once the business had sold its interest in the joint venture it was no longer carrying on the business that generated the losses.
Progress of Legislation
As at 14.3.08
|
Bill |
Intro House |
Passed House |
Intro Senate |
Passed Senate |
Date of Royal assent / Act Number |
Description |
|
Tax Laws Amendment (2008 Measures No 1) Bill 2008 |
13.2.08 |
21.2.08 |
11.3.08 |
|
|
Carbon Sink Forests, Grants to Tobacco Growers, Deductible Gift Recipients, Equine Workers Hardship Supplement, Gifts to political parties. |
|
The Financial Sector Legislation Amendment (Review of Prudential Decisions) Bill 2008 |
11.3.08 |
|
13.2.08 |
11.3.08 |
|
Overhaul of rules for operation of financial sector entities. |
|
Tax Laws Amendment (Personal Income Tax Reduction) Bill 2008 |
14.2.08 |
12.3.08 |
13.3.08 |
|
|
Personal Income Tax Cuts |