2012-13 Federal Budget: a small surplus, company tax cut scrapped, plus many more tax and super changes
On 8 May 2012, the Treasurer handed down the 2012-13 Federal Budget, his 5th and arguably most challenging (and perhaps most controversial), Budget. The much talked about and speculated surplus has materialised. The Treasurer revealed a $1.5bn surplus for 2012-13 (see further details below). The pre-Budget speculation about reduced tax breaks for companies to help ...more
CGT treatment of earnout arrangements
It was this time 2 years ago, on 11 May 2010 in the 2010-11 Federal Budget, that the Government announced it would amend the law to change the CGT treatment of earnout arrangements. Broadly, under the proposal, all payments received under an earnout arrangement would be treated as relating to the underlying business assets (ie ...more
Tax agent regime: financial planners’ exemption extended
On 30 April 2012, the Assistant Treasurer announced that financial advisers will be granted a 1-year extension to their current exemption from the taxation agent services regime until 30 June 2013. This decision is intended to allow for a smooth transition to the new regulatory regime, which will bring taxation advice provided in the context ...more
inTAX magazine: April 2012
The April 2012 edition of inTAX magazine highlights two important developments concerning the Government’s Future of Financial Advice (FoFA) reforms. Kym Bailey, Private Client Adviser, Perpetual, discusses issues with the Government’s proposal to include limited recourse borrowing arrangements (LRBAs) as a financial product under the Corporations Act 2001. Another hot topic is the Government’s proposed ...more
Financial advice: ASIC shadow shopping research
On 27 March 2012, ASIC released its Shadow shopping study of financial advice which looked at 64 examples of personal financial advice given to real consumers during 2011. While ASIC’s research found that the majority of advice examples reviewed (58%) were “adequate”, 39% of the advice examples were rated as “poor”, with only 2 examples ...more
Taxation of trusts reforms require SME focus
The Government’s proposed reforms to the taxation of trusts require a strong SME focus, according to Pitcher Partners. Writing in Thomson Reuters Weekly Tax Bulletin Issue 12 (23 March 2012), Pitcher Partners Executive Directors Theo Sakell and Alexis Kokkinos outline some of the key reform issues and suggest that any changes to the current model ...more
FoFA Bills pass House of Reps with amendments
The Corporations Amendment (Future of Financial Advice) Bill 2011 and Corporations Amendment (Further Future of Financial Advice Measures) Bill 2011 were passed by the House of Reps on 22 March 2012 with a total of 24 Government amendments . The Bills now move to the Senate. Note that the amendments passed by the House of ...more
Mining tax passes, super and small business tax changes on the way
The Minerals Resource Rent Tax Bill 2011 and package of related bills have now passed all stages of Parliament and await Royal Assent. The Bills passed the Senate last night [Mon 19.3.2012] without amendment. The Bills will introduce the Minerals Resource Rent Tax (MRRT) and extend the coverage of the existing Petroleum Resource Rent Tax ...more
Draft transfer pricing legislation released
The Government has released an exposure draft of proposed amendments that would implement the first stage of reforms to transfer pricing. The proposed amendments follow the Full Federal Court decision in the SNF case in 2011 and are on the Treasury website. The Assistant Treasurer said the draft legislation takes into account a number of ...more
FBT: Living-away-from-home changes – problems for employers
The Government’s proposed changes to the Living-away-from-home (LAFH) rules from 1 July 2012 will present problems for employers with medium-term arrangements already in place, according to accounting firm PKF. Writing in Thomson Reuters Weekly Tax Bulletin Issue 11 (16 March 2012), PKF Director of Taxation, Lance Cunningham and Kumar Krishnasamy, Partner International Employment Taxation, warn ...more
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