Birchstone Brief for the week ended 14 July 2023

Updated Section 100A Documentation Pack

We are excited to announce that our Section 100A Documentation Pack has been updated following the recent case law on section 100A and release of the final ATO guidance.

The Section 100A Documentation Pack is a practical resource designed to minimise the risk of section 100A applying by clearly documenting that the beneficiary is aware of their trust entitlement and has made an independent decision on what to do with it.

With the turn of the financial year, now is the perfect time to start using the Section 100A Documentation Pack with your trust clients. The pack includes a template letter for trustees to send to their beneficiaries, as well as a template letter for you to send to your trust clients explaining section 100A.

Click here to learn more and purchase the updated Section 100A Documentation Pack before the price increases.

Legislation

Draft legislation to reduce general insurers’ compliance costs

Treasury has released exposure draft legislation and explanatory materials for consultation regarding the 2023-24 Budget measure to lower compliance costs for general insurers by aligning the taxation treatment of general insurance contracts in Division 321 of the ITAA 1997 with the reissued accounting standard AASB 17. This is intended to allow general insurers to use the same records for tax and accounting purposes.

Draft instrument regarding correcting GST errors in later tax periods

If registered, draft instrument LI 2023/D13 will enable taxpayers to rectify GST errors from a prior tax period in a return for a subsequent tax period in certain circumstances. This will remove the need to lodge an amendment request where the specified circumstances are met. Importantly, the draft instrument only applies to GST (and not WET or LCT). If registered, the draft instrument will replace the Goods and Services Tax: Correcting GST Errors Determination 2013.

Taxation and Miscellaneous Amendments Bill 2023 (Tas) now law

The Bill, covered in the Birchstone Brief for the week ended 2 June 2023, has received royal assent and is now law.

ACNC to be provided additional powers and resources to disclose regulatory activities

The Federal Government has announced its proposal to amend the secrecy provisions in the ACNC Act to allow the ACNC to publicly disclose its regulatory activities. The intention of the proposed changes is to improve transparency and accountability in the charities sector.

Cases

Ierna Beneficiary Pty Ltd v Commissioner of Taxation [2023] FCA 725 – Commissioner’s admission evidence of excessive assessments

The Federal Court has agreed to consent orders that a taxpayer’s appeal against amended assessments should be allowed, after the Commissioner conceded that the assessments made were, in fact, excessive. In making its decision, the Court noted that:

• the Court could only exercise its powers to vary the assessments under section 14ZZP of the TAA 1953 where a taxpayer had discharged the burden of proof imposed by section 144ZO;
• as a taxation appeal is a judicial proceeding, the burden imposed by section 144ZO can only be satisfied by admissible evidence; and
• the Commissioner’s admission that the assessments were excessive was sufficient proof they were, to the extent of that admission, as a matter of fact excessive.

Aston v Commissioner of Taxation [2023] AATA 1848 – AAT refuses to allocate excess contributions to previous income year 

The AAT has upheld the Commissioner’s decision to refuse to reallocate excess concessional superannuation contributions to the 2018-19 financial year after the taxpayer made a contribution via direct debit on 26 June 2019 which was not received by his super fund until 1 July 2019. This was because the Tribunal considered the circumstances did not qualify as “special circumstances” under section 291-465 of the ITAA 1997. In making its decision, the AAT noted that:

• the time it took the taxpayer’s super fund to process his contribution was not unusual;
• the resulting tax imposed (as the taxpayer had made a further concessional contribution in August 2019 and subsequently exceeded the concessional contributions cap in the 2019-20 year) was not harsh; and
• when making concessional contributions close to the end of an income year, it is reasonable for taxpayers to confirm timely receipt, regardless of perceived payment timeframes.

Richmond v Commissioner of Taxation [2023] AATA 1915 – No deduction for conditional joint venture expenditure

The AAT has affirmed the Commissioner’s decision that a $1.5 million conditional payment made by a taxpayer to acquire a 75% interest in a joint venture was not tax deductible under either section 8-1 (as it constituted capital expenditure) or Division 40 (as it did not result in the taxpayer obtaining a mining, quarrying or prospecting right or mining, quarrying or prospecting information) of the ITAA 1997.

Sexyworld (Aust) Pty Ltd v Commissioner of Taxation [2023] AATA 1919 – No CFB for adult shop companies 

The AAT has held that six related companies operating adult shop businesses were ineligible for the cash flow boost. This was because:

• payments to the group’s employees were made by a payroll company rather than the entities themselves, and as such the entities had failed to establish that they had made payments to employees as required by section 5(1)(a)(i) of the CFB Act; and
• the AAT considered that all but one of the companies had entered into a scheme with the dominant purpose of making themselves entitled to the cash flow boost, and as such had offended the anti-avoidance provisions of the CFB Act.

Appeals

The NSW Chief Commissioner of State Revenue has applied to the High Court for special leave to appeal against the NSW Court of Appeal’s decision in Chief Commissioner of State Revenue (NSW) v Shell Energy Operations No 2 Pty Ltd [2023] NSWCA 113 (covered in the Birchstone Brief for the week ended 2 June 2023).