No depreciation deductions for copyright: ATO views on Primary Health Care case

By Tax News Division on August 31, 2010

The ATO has released a Decision Impact Statement on the decision of the Federal Court in Primary Health Care Ltd v FCT [2010] FCA 419. In that case, the Federal Court dismissed a claim by an operator of medical centres for depreciation deductions in respect of copyright in medical records. The taxpayer, Primary Health Care ...more

Tax Agent Portal reports now show ATO interest amounts

By Tax News Division on August 31, 2010

The ATO has advised tax agents that Tax Agent Portal Pre-filling and Year to date (YTD) interest summary reports now display ATO interest amounts. These amounts had previously been unavailable in these reports while the ATO worked on system upgrades to ensure the reports aligned and displayed the most current amounts of ATO interest. Prior ...more

Deductions for education expenses against Youth Allowance: ATO view

By Tax News Division on August 31, 2010

On 29 July 2010, the High Court heard the Commissioner’s appeal against the decision of the Full Federal Court in FCT v Anstis (2009) 73 ATR 483. The Full Federal Court had allowed a taxpayer a deduction for education expenses as she had received a taxable Youth Allowance. According to the Tax Office, the High ...more

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Online selling: ATO data-matches with eBay and Trading Post

By Tax News Division on August 17, 2010

Under a new data-matching program (details of which were gazetted on 28 July 2010 in Commonwealth Gazette No GN29), the ATO says it has obtained data from eBay Australia and Trading Post Australia to assess the level of taxation compliance of individuals and businesses that sell goods or services online. The data identifies members of ...more

ALP commits to introducing MySuper from July 2013

By Tax News Division on August 17, 2010

The ALP has announced that, if re-elected, it would introduce a simple, low-cost super product called “MySuper” from 1 July 2013 which would replace existing default funds. The product is designed for members who do not exercise choice or nominate a fund, or where a default fund is specified in a modern Award or industrial agreement. Only ...more

ATO to send letters to 110,000 cash economy participants

By Tax News Division on August 17, 2010

The ATO says that, this financial year, it will send around 110,000 letters to taxpayers who it believes may be participating in the cash economy. The majority of letters will be sent to businesses reporting outside the small business benchmarks for their industry. The ATO will write to tax agents of business taxpayers identified to ...more

Is an overhaul of Australia’s transfer pricing laws on the cards?

By Tax News Division on July 29, 2010

In the recent SNF (Australia) Pty Ltd case (reported at 2010 WTB 29 [1153]) before the Federal Court, a company was able to rely upon its evidence of the use of the comparable uncontrolled price (CUP) method and that losses made from commercial operations over a 7 year period were justifiable. The court allowed the ...more

Coalition promises to expand the Education Tax refund

By Tax News Division on July 29, 2010

The Federal Coalition has promised, if elected, to expand the Education Tax refund. For primary students, it will increase the rebate from the current $390 to up to $500 per year per child in primary school. Eligible parents will be able to claim a 50% rebate for up to $1,000 of eligible education-related expenses for ...more