Innovation and tax. Do these two things go together or are they a little like oil and water?
Sometime in the next few weeks, the Government will be releasing its statement on innovation. There are clear indications circling that the tax system will have a role to play in influencing, or perhaps even encouraging, innovation in Australia. As we await this statement, no doubt the tax-related content will permeate the broader tax reform discussion.

On Monday this week, Deloitte Access Economics released its second ‘myth busting' report entitled Myth busting tax reform #2: Superannuation, negative gearing and the discount on capital gains, providing insights on the tax issues associated with ‘savings'. For members who are interested, Chris Richardson from Deloitte Access Economics will be speaking at our 2016 Financial Services Taxation Conference on why the Australian economy needs tax reform. You may wish to join us there.

In other news, the Australian Taxation Office has released their 2014-15 Annual Report. Here is a link to the report for your information.

Thilini Wickramasuriya FTI is a Tax Counsel of The Tax Institute.

The Tax Institute is Australia’s leading professional association in tax. Its 13,000 members include tax agents, accountants and lawyers as well as tax practitioners in corporations, government and academia.