Written by TaxCounsel Pty Ltd
The following points highlight important federal tax developments that occurred during April 2018.
Each month, a selection of these developments are considered in more detail in the Taxing Issues column of Taxation in Australia, the Institute's member journal.
small business CGT concessions etc
introduced an amending Bill into parliament that contains amendments that will
give effect to CGT and several other previously announced amendments.
super guarantee
Financial Services introduced an amending Bill into parliament to implement
several recommendations contained in the Superannuation Guarantee Cross-Agency
Working Group’s report to strengthen compliance with taxation and superannuation
guarantee obligations.
Convention legislation
Bill 2018, which was introduced into parliament on 28 March 2018, contains
amendments to the International Tax
Agreements Act 1953 (Cth) to give force of law in Australia to the Multilateral Convention to Implement Tax Treaty
Related Measures to Prevent Base Erosion and Profit Shifting (Multilateral Convention).
structures
The Treasurer has announced that the rules on stapled structures are to be tightened to close down an unintended concession that was only available to foreign investors.
FBT: benchmark interest rate
The benchmark interest rate for the FBT year commencing on 1 April 2018 is 5.20% per annum (TD 2018/2).
FBT: non-remote housing
The Commissioner has released a determination that sets out
the indexation factors which are to be applied for the FBT year commencing 1
April 2018 when valuing non-remote housing under s 26 of the Fringe Benefits Tax Assessment Act 1986
(Cth) (FBTAA) (TD 2018/1). These factors are based on movements in the rent
sub-group of the CPI.
kilometre rates
value of a fringe benefit arising from the private use of a motor vehicle other
than a car for the FBT year commencing on 1 April 2018 are set out in TD
2018/4.
expenses
the amounts that he considers reasonable (under s 31G FBTAA) for food and drink
expenses incurred by employees receiving a living-away-from-home allowance
fringe benefit for the FBT year commencing on 1 April 2018 (TD 2018/3).
construction contracts
the methods acceptable to him for returning income derived, and recognising
expenses incurred in, long-term construction projects (TR 2018/3).
documents
statutory power conferred on the Commissioner to require a person by written
notice to produce documents is not affected by the so-called Harman obligation ( DCT v Rennie Produce (Aust) Pty Ltd (in liq)
[2018] FCAFC 38).
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