Working holiday maker regime in potential turmoil
‘No benefit’: Calls for micros to be excluded from STP continue
One system to rule them all
Cash crack-down bill passes House, with new Israel DTA
AAT says “recklessness” a factor in Div 7A decision
New 75% stamp duty rebate in WA for apartment buyers
OECD releases “unified approach” to digitalised international tax
Working holiday maker regime in potential turmoil
The Federal Court has handed down a decision in Addy v Commissioner of Taxation [2019] FCA 1768 that could have severe impact on the working holiday maker scheme. The case follows the activities of a British citizen working here on a 417 visa who appealed an ATO income tax assessment. Catherine Addy, a 27-year-old UK drama student from London, initially came to Australia in August 2015 on a work visa. She left Australia in May 2017. She was considered to be a resident of Australia for tax purposes. Four years after arriving, Addy won the Federal Court case, the decision concluding the backpacker taxing regime discriminated against UK nationals. The FC’s Justice Logan found an article of the Double Taxation Agreement with the UK should not tax UK nationals in a more burdensome way than their own nationals in the same circumstances. “That is a disguised form of discrimination based on nationality,” he said in his judgement.
‘No benefit’: Calls for micros to be excluded from STP continue
Accountants Daily reports that Tax & Super Australia (TSA) believes the ATO should strongly consider exempting micro employers from the STP regime, citing research that showed that such entities were struggling to implement the new system. A survey of members found that close to two-thirds believed STP would not improve the way employers report tax and super information to the ATO or were undecided on it, while 92% of them indicated that their clients needed help implementing STP.
One system to rule them all
The coming silly season looks set to be a busy period for the ATO, as revenue collection agency looks to implement its “Activity Statement Financial Processing” project (ASFP), the name it has given to a system enhancement that aims to move all activity statement and franking deficit tax financial data onto one new system.
ASFP will change the way activity statement and other account information is displayed in Online Services for Agents. See more and other details here.
The change is planned for between 24 December and 1 January, during the ATO’s annual closure, which will close all ATO online systems for that period. STP will still enable reporting, although records will not be processed and displayed until the main online system is back up.
Cash crack-down bill passes House, with new Israel DTA
A couple of new bills have just passed along the legislative process and now move to the Senate. The Currency (Restrictions on the Use of Cash) Bill 2019 makes it a criminal offence to make or accept payments in cash for more than $10,000. Individual-to-individual transactions are not covered in the original proposal.
Draft rules on how the currency restrictions legislation will work on a practical level have been released recently by Treasury (see here).
Also passed in a new double taxation agreement to be struck with Israel. It was agreed to last March, and gives effect to BEPS recommendations and ensures taxing rights to Australia over certain income. Readmore
