Final ruling on s 100A agreements due in December
In its “Advice under Development” information on its website, the ATO has indicated that the final Ruling on s 100A reimbursement agreements is expected to be completed in December 2022. The Ruling will set out the Commissioner’s views on the exclusions from a “reimbursement agreement” for agreements not entered into with a purpose of eliminating or reducing someone’s income tax and agreements entered into “in the course of ordinary family or commercial dealings”. (Note: The original draft ruling, Draft TR 2022/D1, was published on 23 February 2022.)
ATO 2021-22 Annual Report released
The ATO has released its 2021-22 Annual Report. Among other things, the ATO reported that it: collected gross tax of $648.5bn, with net tax collections of $515.6bn – up $64.2bn (14.2%) from 2020–21; estimated additional tax revenue from all its activities including audit actions, preventative and sustained compliance ($15.5bn against a performance target of $15bn); collected tax from multinational corporations through a $1bn settlement with Rio Tinto; and supported whole-of-government service delivery with the launch of the director identification number (Director ID).
More funds for ATO for tax collection activities
In conjunction with the release of the ATO’s annual report (above), the Government has announced that it will be investing in the capabilities of the ATO to increase receipts by around $5.7bn over the forward estimates period. (This follows on from new ATO statistics which show an estimated annual shortfall of $33.4bn between tax owed and tax paid.) The Government stated that its investment in the ATO over the forward estimates will include: $1.1bn to increase and extend funding for the Tax Avoidance Taskforce, which focuses on multinational, large business, and high wealth tax avoidance; $242.9m to extend the Shadow Economy Program for a further 3 years; $80.3m to extend the Personal Income Taxation Compliance Program for a further 2 years; and, $20.8 million for the Tax Practitioners Board to increase compliance investigations on high risk practitioners.
ABN registration regime: exposure draft legislation released
The Government is seeking public comment on exposure draft legislation (and accompanying explanatory material) relating to changes to the ABN system. The proposed changes intend to make ongoing ABN registration contingent on ABN holders complying with their income tax return lodgement requirements, and the obligation to update the accuracy of their details on the Australian Business Register (ABR), annually. Comments are due by 29 November 2022.
