What happened in tax in October


Written by TaxCounsel Pty Ltd
The following points highlight important federal tax developments that
occurred during October 2018.
Each month, these developments are considered in more detail in the
Taxing Issues column of Taxation in Australia, the Institute's member journal.

Foreign
investor amendments
An amending Bill that was introduced into parliament on
21 September 2018 contains amendments that are intended to comprehensively
tackle the various tax settings that are combined with stapled 
structures to deliver low tax rates to foreign
investors.
Multinational
amendments
The Treasury Laws Amendment (Making Sure Multinationals Pay
their Fair Share of Tax in Australia and Other Measures) Bill 2018) contains
amendments that will (inter alia) amend (from 1 July 2018) the R&D tax
incentive to better target the incentive and encourage firms to increase the
proportion of their business devoted to genuine, additional R&D expenditure
and extend the definition of a “significant global entity”.
Further black
economy measures Bill
An amending Bill (which was introduced into parliament on 20
September 2018)

contains
further amendments directed at

the black
economy.
Fodder storage
assets write-off
An amending Act which became law on September 2018 makes
amendments that will allow primary producers to immediately deduct the cost of
fodder storage assets, such as silos and hay sheds, used to store grain and
other animal feed.


CGT small
business concessions
Amendments to the CGT small business concessions to give
effect to a 2017-18 Budget announcement relating to capital gains from shares
or trust interests are now law but with a revised commencement date.
GST: supplies
of goods connected with Australia
The Commissioner has issued a final ruling which
considers the circumstances in which a supply of goods will be connected with
the indirect tax zone and thus potentially liable to GST (GSTR 2018/2).
Diverted
profits tax
The Commissioner has released a final law companion
ruling and a final practical compliance guideline in relation to the operation
of the diverted profits tax for significant global entities (LCR 2018/6; PCG
2018/5).
Planned
consultation
In addition to potential advice and guidance currently
open for consultation, the ATO has advised the topics on which it plans to seek
comment.
Fraud or
evasion

The Federal Court (Kenny J) has dismissed an appeal by a
taxpayer from a decision of the AAT in which the tribunal had upheld amended
assessments of the taxpayer, some of which, to be valid (because they would
otherwise have been time-barred), required that the Commissioner rely on item 5
of the table in s 170(1) ITAA36, which meant that he had to be of the opinion
that there had been fraud or evasion (
Nguyen v
FCT
[2018]
FCA 1420).

CGT:
relationship breakdown
The High Court has refused special leave to appeal from
the decision of the Full Federal Court in the
Ellison v Sandini Pty Ltd
litigation,
which raised a number of CGT issues, including in relation to the operation of
CGT relationship roll-over relief.
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