AAT to be replaced by new body
The Federal Government has announced that the Administrative Appeals Tribunal (AAT) will be abolished and replaced with a new federal administrative review body. The purpose of the reform include, among other things, providing additional capacity to enable the rapid resolution of existing backlogs and to implement consistent funding and remuneration arrangements to enable the new system to respond flexibly to fluctuating case numbers. At the same time, as part of the reform, the Government has developed new AAT Appointment Guidelines. Under the Guidelines, all vacancies must be advertised and applicants will be assessed against clear criteria by an appropriately constituted panel.
NSW: Payroll tax applies to security guard subcontracting arrangement
The NSW Court of Appeal has unanimously allowed the appeal of the Chief Commissioner of State Revenue and found that a company was liable for payroll tax in relation to security guard services it provided to customers. The taxpayer provided security services to its customers via unrelated subcontracting companies whereby the security guards, as subcontractors, were paid by related entities of the taxpayer. Among other things, the Court found that the “employment agency contract” provisions in the Payroll Tax Act 2007 (NSW) applied to the arrangement for the purposes of assessing payroll tax liability. (Chief Commer of State Revenue v E Group Security Pty Ltd (No 2) [2022] NSWCA 259, 13 December 2022.)
MBA did not meet education requirements for tax-agent registration
The AAT has confirmed that a person was not entitled to an unrestricted registration as a tax agent because he had not satisfied the relevant education requirements. In issue was whether a Master of Business Administration (MBA) from an Australian university met these requirements. In examining the MBA degree and units considered as a whole, the AAT found that only three out of 13 units were relevant to his application for registration. Accordingly, the AAT ruled that the relevant eligibility requirements had not been satisfied. (Gupta and Tax Practitioners Board [2022] AATA 4226, 12 December 2022.)
Registration of financial advisers – 6 month delay
The Corporations Amendment (Registration of Relevant Providers) Regulations 2022 has been made. It amends the Corporations Regulations 2001 to delay the requirement for financial services licensees to register financial advisers on the Financial Advisers Register for six months to 1 July 2023.
APRA: MySuper Heatmap
APRA has released its 2022 MySuper Heatmap. The Heatmap evaluates every MySuper product’s performance in the areas of investment returns, fees and costs and long-term sustainability of member outcomes. Key insights from the MySuper Heatmap include: a fall in fees and costs for most MySuper products (ie, 8.1m members or 56% of member accounts have experienced a drop in fees and costs); 28 MySuper products have closed since APRA released the first heatmap in 2019; and 350,000 fewer members are in MySuper products with “significantly poor” investment performance than in 2021.MBA did not meet education requirements for tax-agent registration
The AAT has confirmed that a person was not entitled to an unrestricted registration as a tax agent because he had not satisfied the relevant education requirements. In issue was whether a Master of Business Administration (MBA) from an Australian university met these requirements. In examining the MBA degree and units considered as a whole, the AAT found that only three out of 13 units were relevant to his application for registration. Accordingly, the AAT ruled that the relevant eligibility requirements had not been satisfied. (Gupta and Tax Practitioners Board [2022] AATA 4226, 12 December 2022.)