If you are an Australian business with an offshore subsidiary, or an Australian subsidiary of an offshore entity, you will be subject to Transfer Pricing (TP) rules in relation to transactions between related entities. Sometimes complying with these rules can feel like trying to get three thumbs up from one person! It entails: Ensuring the ATO is comfortable the dealings comply with the Australian TP rules. Ensuring the offshore tax authority is comfortable the dealings comply with their TP rules. Ensuring you don’t spend so much time on tax compliance and administration that it impacts on yo ..read more

“I am the Attributeless, Absolute, Nirguna. I have no name, no residence.” The Indian spiritual guru Sai Baba might have said this in the late 1800’s, but we anticipate he would have an uphill fight convincing the tax authorities (in Australia or anywhere else!) of this in the current day and age. You might ask why tax residency is an issue for you. Whether you are a foreigner coming into Australia, an Australian leaving or someone who is regularly entering and exiting the country, the residency rules are incredibly complicated and driven by facts. The consequences of getting it wrong can be s ..read more

Our team have been eagerly awaiting the arrival of the new federal budget, and with this ever changing economic landscape there are some key take aways that will impact your Business! We have provided you with a relevant highlight reel so you can see both the impact and opportunity for you coming out of the release of the federal budget this week. Tech Investment Boost In the Government’s attempt to reduce the digital gap between small businesses and multi-national businesses, a temporary technology investment incentive has been announced. Businesses with an aggregated turnover of less than $5 ..read more

“I am only liable for payroll taxes in relation to my employees, right?” – famous last words of a Medical Practice owner.   Payroll Tax … is your Healthcare Practice or Service Entity Arrangement in the sights of the revenue authorities? A common misconception of business owners is that Payroll Tax is only payable in relation to wages.  However, the reality is that other payments, such as payments to contractors, may be subject to Payroll Tax as well. The Courts have provided updated guidance relating to the interaction between Payroll Tax and common medical practice business structu ..read more

ABA Legal Group’s specialist tax and corporate law team has created this list to assist those businesses looking to expand their operations into the world’s largest economy, the United States of America. Expanding into the US is undeniably an exciting key milestone in any business. However, from a legal planning perspective, it is crucial to be proactive in planning, to minimise the chance of surprises from both the US legal and corporate environment, and the complexities that attach itself to international tax. We’ve outlined some of the most common considerations that arise when a business i ..read more

The ATO has recently announced a mail-out campaign in relation to businesses utilising the Small Business CGT (SB CGT) concessions. This is due to the ATO seeing a rising number of ‘larger and wealthier’ businesses mistakenly accessing the SB CGT concessions. Although the campaign is currently directed to asking the business’ tax advisor to review eligibility, this could be used as the basis for future compliance activity.   This is an important reminder on the importance of the correct application of these deceptively complex provisions. In practice, we see a number of common mistakes th ..read more

Afterpay’s $A39 billion sale in August to Twitter founder, Jack Dorsey’s payment firm, Square, made local and global headlines as the largest corporate merger in Australian history. The above headline provides an opportunity to ‘unpack’ an incredibly complex transaction for the Tax Law team here at ABA Legal Group. For us, the fun part with these types of deals is looking at this holistically and understanding the personal and business obligations from a taxation perspective for those involved – including everyday investors. This deal is heralded as being a ‘blockbuster’ and will see Square in ..read more

ATO Taxpayer Alert TA 2021/2 – Inbound loans and gifts   What is the issue? On 17 September 2021, the Australian Taxation Office (ATO) released Taxpayer Alert 2021/2, focused on ‘disguising undeclared foreign income as gifts or loans from related entities overseas.’ A Taxpayer Alert sets out the ATO’s concerns around a particular area it sees as risky, as well as detailing what actions the ATO is taking to address this risk. The current Taxpayer Alert is directed towards Australian tax residents (individuals and other entities) who make profits offshore from trading or investment activiti ..read more

Are you interested in the world of self-managed super funds (SMSFs)? If the answer is yes, it is important to explore whether you are better off pursuing an individual or a corporate trustee structure. Differences in costs, setup, and protection offered by these two types of SMSFs demonstrate a need to self-assess which structure is most suitable for you! It is important to first highlight that every member of a SMSF is required to be a trustee or a director of a corporate trustee. An SMSF trustee’s primary responsibility is to ensure the fund abides by legal requirements such as fund auditing ..read more

The Made in America Tax Plan represents a series of corporate tax reforms to address profit shifting and offshoring incentives and to level the playing field between domestic and foreign corporations. Critically, one of the main pillars of the plan has received overwhelming support from the OECD and 130 separate countries – the global minimum tax and redistribution of income.   How does this impact you? While at this stage, the plan is just a plan and is not legislation yet, companies doing business in the US should expect a higher corporate tax rate under the Biden administration. Austr ..read more