TaxTalk

Australian Taxation Office

New items on the ATO website, including:

• Luxury car tax limits: LCTD 2013/1 regarding the luxury car tax threshold and the fuel-efficient car limit for the 2013-14 income year.
• Rulings and addenda released yesterday, including Class Rulings, Product Ruling, addendum to Product Ruling and addendum to ruling on the operation of the wine equalisation tax system.
• Fringe Benefits Tax: Living-away-from-home declarations.
• Guide to setting up a self-managed super fund.
• Minutes of the National Tax Liaison Group meeting on 22 March 2013.

Federal Budget

In his Budget reply address to the National Press Club yesterday, the Shadow Treasurer outlined a number of tax reform and tax administration initiatives that a Coalition government would implement if elected including:

• foster a more cooperative relationship between taxpayers and the ATO
• establish a standing Parliamentary Committee to focus on oversight of tax administration, including semi-annual public hearings with the Commissioner and an enquiry into the most effective organisational structure for independently handling and resolving formal taxation disputes
• provide greater taxpayer certainty by requiring the Commissioner to affirm that all new tax legislation and related explanatory memoranda accurately express the Government's stated policy intent and that the ATO affirm that it has the administrative and compliance systems in place to give practical effect to legislation, and
• a tax policy making process to be headed by a respected individual from outside the public service with proposals for future tax reform to be released before the 2016 election.

International

This Pricing Knowledge Network and Tax Controversy and Dispute Resolution Alert discusses the recent publication of the Draft Handbook on Transfer Pricing Risk Assessment by the Organisation for Economic Cooperation and Development's Global Forum on Transfer Pricing.

Australian Taxation Office

New items on the ATO website, including:

• Trusts Taskforce: information on the ATO trusts taskforce to be established to target use of trust structures in aggressive tax planning (as announced in the 2013-14 Federal Budget) including a list of factors that will attract the ATO's attention
• Updated: Research and Development tax incentive frequently asked questions
• Updated: National Tax Liaison Group (NTLG) Taxation of Financial Arrangements (TOFA) current issue list
• Updated: Trans-Tasman imputation: Information on how to claim Australian franking credits attached to New Zealand dividends

International

• Organisation for Economic Co-operation and Development (OECD): The OECD has notified that it has approved the revision of the section on safe harbours in the Transfer Pricing Guidelines for Multinational Enterprises and Tax Administrations
• Global: The March/April 2013 edition of PwC's Trade Intelligence Asia Pacific is now available.

Australian Taxation Office

New items on the ATO website, including:

• Minutes of the National Tax Liaison Group (NTLG) Dispute Resolution sub-committee meeting held on 13 August 2012
• Updated: Guide to correcting mistakes and disputing decisions
• Updated: Tax crime investigations and results, includes data up to 28 April 2013

Treasury

Treasury has updated its forward work program for consultation on tax measures for April 2013 with indications that Exposure Draft legislation for the following measures is expected soon:

• Amendments to Petroleum Resource Rent Tax (PRRT) - expected in May 2013
• Clarifying the scope of the equity over-ride provision in s974-80 of the Income Tax Assessment Act 1936 - expected in mid 2013, and
• a new tax system for managed investment trusts (MITs) and general trust tax reform - expected in mid 2013

International

New Zealand: The 2013 edition of PwC New Zealand's Tax facts and figures is now available.

Australian Taxation Office

New items on the ATO website, including:

• Updated: Public Rulings Program, as at 3 May 2013, contains the following updates:
  • new draft tax ruling on whether a payment under a Family Law court order gives rise to a deemed dividend is expected to issue in November 2013, and
  • a new draft tax determination on dividend access share arrangements as described in TA 2012/4 and the dividend stripping provisions in section 177E of the Income Tax Assessment Act 1936 (ITAA 1936) is expected to issue in August 2013.
• New ATO Interpretative Decisions (ATO IDs):
  • ATO ID 2013/27: Application of section 23AG of the ITAA 1936 to sick leave accrued during a period of foreign service and taken after the period of foreign service has ceased
  • ATO ID 2013/28 and ATO ID 2013/29: Application of the Japanese Double Tax Convention to the Japanese Special Income Tax for Reconstruction and Special Corporation Tax for Reconstruction
  • ATO ID 2013/30: Goods and Services Tax (GST) and the sale of commercial premises that are subject to a lease

PwC understands that a determination on the luxury car tax threshold and the fuel-efficient car limit for the 2013-14 financial year will be released by the ATO on Wednesday.

Cases

The Commissioner has lodged an appeal against the decision of the Federal Court in Resource Capital Fund III LP v Commissioner of Taxation where the Federal Court found that the limited partners were the relevant taxpayers for capital gains realised on the sale of shares in an Australian mining company by a foreign limited partnership.

Tax base erosion

In an address last week, titled Tackling Tax Avoidance And Profit Shifting In The 21st Century, the Assistant Treasurer, David Bradbury, discussed changes to the general anti-avoidance (Part IVA) rules in Tax Laws Amendment (Countering Tax Avoidance and Multinational Profit Shifting) Bill 2013, which passed the House of Representatives last week, and measures in the Budget concerning protection of Australia’s corporate tax base and global tax avoidance.

International

Organisation for Economic Co-operation and Development (OECD):

• OECD publication Tax Administration 2013: Comparative Information on OECD and Other Advanced and Emerging Economies
• The Forum on Tax Administration, comprising tax commissioners from 45 countries recently met in Moscow and has released a communiqué on topics discussed at the meeting