In light of the ATO’s current position that income from cryptocurrency sales will generally be taxed under capital gains tax (CGT) provisions and increased scrutiny on cryptocurrency transactions, taxpayers should ensure they keep accurate records of cryptocurrency transactions.

Did you or do you currently hold cryptocurrencies? Did you sell any cryptocurrencies before finding out that the Australian Tax Office (ATO) would vigilantly tax cryptocurrency sales? Are you left scratching your head after reading the ATO’s guidance? If so, you are one of many Australians currently finding themselves in an uncertain tax situation.

This week Cruisin Motorhomes paid a $12,600 penalty following an infringement notice from the ACCC alleging a breach of the excessive payment surcharge laws as outlined in the Competition and Consumer Act 2010. The ban on excessive surcharge payments has been in place since September 2017.

LeBron to LABron – in the biggest off-season news in the NBA, the league’s pre-eminent player, ‘King James’, last week announced that he had agreed to a lucrative deal to play for its most famous franchise, the Los Angeles Lakers.

Foreign companies that may be controlled by an Australian entity should review their decision-making based on the Australian Taxation Office (ATO) Taxation Ruling, TR 2018/5 (TR 2018/5).  It is timely for Australian groups with foreign-incorporated subsidiaries to consider whether they are appropriately managing tax residency risk by re-visiting and/or implementing tax residency protocols and ensuring that they can be applied practically.

This week the government released the Board of Taxation report on a new tax residency model for individuals with a position that further analysis and consideration on the key recommendations is required before the Government takes a position. 

The recent Federal Court decision of Pintarich v Deputy Commissioner of Taxation [2018] FCAFC 79 considered whether from the Australian Taxation Office (ATO) purportedly remitting the taxpayer’s amounted to a ‘decision’ by the Commissioner of Taxation (Commissioner). 

The Commissioner of Taxation (Commissioner) has power pursuant to section 255-15(1) of Schedule 1 to the Taxation Administration Act 1953 (TAA) to permit a taxpayer to pay off its tax debts by instalments in accordance with a payment arrangement. The recent Federal Court decision of Stojic v Deputy Commissioner of Taxation [2018] FCA 483 (Stojic), which dismissed an application by the sole director and shareholder of the taxpayer company to review a decision by the Commissioner to decline to exercise that power, provides two important lessons.   

On 29 March 2018 the Treasury Laws Amendment (2018 Measures No. 1) Act amending the Taxation Administration Act 1953 (the Act) received Royal Assent.

A key focus of the Federal Budget was on personal income tax cuts, and measures aimed at large companies and the black economy.

I was intrigued by the high level numbers coming out of the Australian Corporate Counsel report '2017 Benchmarks and Leading Practices' on what in-house teams were spending their money on.

In 2017, the Gforce Group (incorporating People@Work) commissioned a research project to understand trends within workplaces in Geelong, with information collected through interviews with human resources representatives from medium to large organisations.

All businesses increasingly rely on other service providers to deliver their products and services, and even a small business will have a surprisingly large supply chain made of many large and small suppliers (who of course have many of their own suppliers). 

Not every small business owner has the time to think through legal issues that could make or break their business. However, there are some important legal tips that every business owner should be aware of to avoid time consuming and expensive issues down the track. To assist the time poor, we have put together 10 legal tips to help small business mitigate business risk and achieve their commercial goals .

It’s been over a year since the Australian Consumer Law provided that terms that are ‘unfair’ in new or renewed consumer and small business contracts could be deemed void and unenforceable.

Cyber security experts counsel us that it’s a matter of when, not if your data will be compromised in some way either maliciously or by accident.  The opportunity for personal information to be lost only increases as businesses store greater and greater amounts of electronic information and outsource marketing, HR and operational activities to third parties without considering how they will protect information entrusted to them. 

From 1 July 2018 purchasers of new residential premises or of new subdivisions of potential residential land that are taxable supplies will be required to pay 1/11th of the purchase price directly to the Australian Taxation Office (ATO) at settlement, if  the exposure draft legislation released by the Government on 6 November 2017 passes in its current form.  Subject to limited exceptions under proposed transitional rules, the new GST withholding obligation will apply even if a vendor applies the GST margin scheme.

Uncertainty had arisen earlier this year as to whether companies with passive investments (including ‘bucket’ companies) would be eligible for the lower company tax rate of 27.5% based on the requirement in section 23AA of the Income Tax Rates Act 1986 that they were “carrying on a business.”

The Australian Taxation Office (ATO) published the final version of the Practical Compliance Guidelines (PCG) 2016/16, which provides guidance in relation to what will be considered by the Commissioner when exercising his discretion to treat an interest in the income or capital of a trust as being a fixed entitlement, and by extension whether a trust is a fixed trust for most tax law purposes.

Whilst still trying to claim a foothold in a highly-populated sports market, the Melbourne Rebels have gradually set about establishing a lasting foundation for rugby union in Victoria since its establishment in 2010.