Ahead of the 2024 tax lodgment season, the ATO has recently published an update on its trust administration changes for trustees, beneficiaries and tax agents which will take effect from 1 July 2024. These changes form part of the Modernisation of Trust Administration Systems (MTAS) project and will affect lodgments for the 2023–24 and later income years. At time of writing the 2024 tax return stationery — which will incorporate the below changes — has not been released. Changes to 2024 trust tax returns The changes to begin on 1 July 2024 include: modifying the labels in the statement of dis ..read more

TaxBanter joins Count As of 1 March, TaxBanter has officially joined the Count family of brands, marking a significant development in the tax education landscape. The acquisition significantly expands Count’s investment in leading Australian brands serving accounting and financial advice firms. In addition to TaxBanter, Count now offers the following resource services: Accurium: The market leading provider of actuarial certificates Knowledge Shop: Help desk membership & on-demand training Priority Networking: IT services for accounting & wealth brands We will continue to prioritise s ..read more

On 27 February 2024, Parliament passed the Treasury Laws Amendment (Cost of Living Tax Cuts) Bill 2024 (the Bill) containing the Government’s revisions to the Stage 3 personal tax cuts, which take effect from the 2024–25 financial year. At time of writing the Bill is awaiting Royal Assent. The original Stage 3 tax cuts formed part of the Personal Income Tax Plan implemented by the Treasury Laws Amendment (Personal Income Tax Plan) Act 2018. In late January 2024 the Government revealed the details of its proposed changes to the Stage 3 tax cuts by way of an announcement and information resource ..read more

The ATO has recently finalised TR 2024/1 titled Income tax: composite items — identifying the relevant depreciating asset for capital allowances (the Ruling). The Ruling sets out the relevant principles identified by the Commissioner to assist in determining whether a composite asset is just one depreciating asset or a number of separate depreciating assets for tax depreciation (Div 40 of the ITAA 1997) purposes. The Ruling was originally issued in draft seven years ago as TR 2017/D1 and reissued as an updated draft last year as TR 2023/D2. The relevance of composite assets A ‘depreciating ass ..read more

The Government has released its 2023–24 Tax Expenditures and Insights Statements (the TEIS). The TEIS provides estimates of the revenue forgone from tax expenditures, along with distributional analysis on large tax expenditures and commonly utilised features of the tax system. The TEIS reports information about revenue the Government does not collect through tax expenditures such as: concessional rates that reduce the rate of tax that applies to certain groups or types of incomes exemptions that exclude certain groups from paying tax on income they receive allowances, credits or rebates that ..read more

The Government has now confirmed the details of its proposed revisions to the Stage 3 personal tax cuts, which take effect from the 2024–25 financial year. The currently legislated Stage 3 tax cuts form part of the Personal Income Tax Plan implemented by the Treasury Laws Amendment (Personal Income Tax Plan) Act 2018. Refer to the following Treasury resources: Tax cuts to help with the cost of living Tax cut calculator Government fact sheet Treasury advice Draft legislation has not been released. Parliament resumes on Tuesday 6 February 2024. This article summarises the proposed changes to t ..read more

Parliament’s final sitting for the year was on 4 to 7 December. The House of Representatives and the Senate will next sit from 6 to 8 February 2024. The House will also sit the following week, from 12 to 15 February 2023. The scheduled 2024 Parliamentary sitting dates are available here. This article sets out the tax and superannuation legislation which was enacted during 2023, and the bills which remain before Parliament for consideration in 2024. Proposed measures before Parliament Measures enacted in 2023 Thinking about your 2024 L&D? NOW is the time to get organised! We offer ..read more

The Treasurer released the Government’s Mid-Year Economic and Fiscal Outlook (MYEFO) on 13 December 2023. The MYEFO updates the economic and fiscal outlook from the 2023–24 Federal Budget. It takes into account the decisions made since the release of the Federal Budget, and therefore revises the Budget aggregates. The MYEFO also contains a number of tax, superannuation and related policy announcements, including proposals to: increase the foreign resident capital gains withholding tax rate from 12.5 per cent to 15 per cent and reduce the withholding threshold from $750,000 to $0 from 1 Januar ..read more

Last week the ATO issued TR 2023/4 (Ruling) and PCG 2023/2 (Guideline), which respectively set out the Commissioner’s view on when an individual is an ‘employee’ of an entity for PAYG withholding purposes and compliance approach for businesses that engage workers and classify them as employee or independent contractors. The Ruling replaces TR 2005/16, which was withdrawn with effect from 15 December 2022 when the draft of the Ruling was issued. The Ruling takes into account developments in case law — most notably the High Court decisions in Construction, Forestry, Maritime, Mining and Energy U ..read more

Recent Federal Court and Tribunal decisions have confirmed that the supply of some common supermarket products are wholly taxable. These products are Birds Eye frozen food varieties and Chobani flip yoghurts. The GST law provides that a supply of ‘food’ is GST-free, unless the product supplied is specifically listed as not being GST-free. Relevantly, food that is ‘marketed as a prepared meal’ and food which is a ‘combination of one or more’ foods listed as being taxable are not eligible for GST-free status. The Court and Tribunal in their respective decisions consider the meaning of those expr ..read more