In RGGW and Commissioner of Taxation [2017] AATA 238, the Administrative Appeals Tribunal (AAT) held that tax losses were not available to a corporate partner in a property development partnership due to poor evidence to support its claim for losses.

The High Court of Australia has recently allowed an appeal against a decision of the Victorian Court of Appeal and found that the Commissioner of State Revenue (Commissioner) was not under a duty to issue amended assessments and refund an excess amount of land tax that was erroneously been paid by a taxpayer.

The Full Federal Court of Australia denied the application of the CGT small business 50% active asset reduction on the basis that an unusual activity carried on by an associated entity to the taxpayer contributed to the aggregated annual turnover of the taxpayer and associated entity to be more than $2,000,000.

As set out in our previous article, the deadline for ensuring non-commercial related party limited recourse borrowing arrangement (LRBA) loans are rectified to reflect commercial terms is 31 January 2017. This date is fast approaching and SMSF trustees must take immediate action to ensure compliance with the ATO’s guidelines set out in PCG 2016/5. 

On 10 October 2016, the Federal Government released an Exposure Draft to amend the debt and equity rules in Division 974 of Income Tax Assessment Act 1997 for the purpose of implementing recommendations made by the Board of Taxation in its April 2015 report Review of the Debt and Equity Tax Rules.

The Government has confirmed that the proposed increase of the aggregated turnover threshold for small business entities of $10 million will apply to the Small Business Restructure Roll-over relief provisions available from 1 July 2016.

One of the many ways in which the government is encouraging innovation is through a series of Research and Development tax incentives, in particular the R & D Tax Incentive Program. 

The Administrative Appeals Tribunal (AAT) recently held in FLZY and Commissioner of Taxation that profit arising from the sale of a building by a family trust that was part of a privately held family group (Group) gave rise to a discount capital gain despite the wider property building, development and investment activities undertaken by the Group. The decision demonstrates the importance of considering a taxpayer’s purpose and intention when acquiring and developing real estate within the broader factual context of the activities undertaken by a taxpayer and any related entities.

In light of the 2016-2017 Federal Budget handed down on 3 May, participants in the wine industry have expressed significant concerns regarding the Federal Government’s proposal to reform the Wine Equalisation Tax Rebate (WET Rebate) and the related eligibility criteria.

In our previous Time For Action article the deadline for ensuring existing non-commercial limited recourse borrowing arrangement (LRBA) loans were put on commercial terms was 30 June 2016. 

The ATO has recently released guidelines on its administrative treatment for the application of certain tax issues when interests in ‘no goodwill’ professional partnerships, trusts and incorporated practices (practices) are acquired or disposed. 

On 6 April 2016, the ATO issued Practical Compliance Guidelines PCG 2016/5 Income tax - arm's length terms for Limited Recourse Borrowing Arrangements established by self managed superannuation funds (Guideline)

In Taxpayer Alert TA 2015/4 (Alert) the Commissioner has issued a warning that the Australian Taxation Office is actively investigating arrangements involving a general limited partnership structure that are being used as a vehicle to minimise the tax liability of individual stakeholders involved.

Farmers are relieved by the Federal Government’s decision to bring forward the start date for new farm tax breaks.  

On Thursday 19 March the Australian Taxation Office (ATO) released their program blueprint “Reinventing the ATO”. The ATO stated that the blueprint describes the kind of experience that Australians expect to have when they deal with the ATO and that it will guide everything that the ATO does in the coming years.

The ACNC have announced that up to 1,400 ACNC registered charities face deregistration unless they lodge their Annual Information Statement (AIS) by 30 March 2015. Each of these charities has failed to lodge their AIS for 2 consecutive years.  If deregistered, they will no longer be eligible for charity tax concessions including income tax, fringe benefit tax and GST.

In the recent Federal Court case of Krok v Commissioner of Taxation[1] a taxpayer was implied to have waived the right to legal professional privilege by disclosing documents which refer to the purpose and reasoning of legal advice. As a result, the taxpayer may be required to discover documents that would otherwise have been protected.

The Tax and Superannuation Laws Amendment (2014 Measures No 6) Bill 2014 (the Bill) has now been passed by both Houses of Parliament and is expected to receive assent shortly.

Voluntary disclosures relating to the Australian Tax Office’s (ATO) “Project DO IT” initiative must be made before 19 December 2014. 

A recent case in the Administrative Appeals Tribunal (Pope v FC, known as Pope’s Case) is of interest to taxpayers and their advisers, with respect to the characterisation of unpaid trust entitlements (UPEs) as loans.