The sun has set on Summer and Autumn has just begun. The sun has also set on some long-running tax issues which have culminated in the introduction of the amendments to Part IVA and transfer pricing in the beginning weeks of the Autumn Parliamentary sitting season. All of our consultation efforts on both of these issues have seen some positive changes to the legislation, but more needs to be done. We have further argued the case for change in a submission to the House of Representatives Standing Committee on Economics.

However, this period has also seen the rise of the sun on emerging issues, particularly the Assistant Treasurer’s pursuit of multinational organisations to pay (in his words) “their fair share” of tax by setting up a Specialist Reference Group to consider ways to create greater transparency in the business tax system. We will be hot on the heels of this issue as the Specialist Reference Group’s review gets under way and we will be reminding the Government that abiding by the law is not evidence of paying an unfair share of tax.

With the announcement of the Federal Election on 14 September 2013 also happening this quarter, we anticipate gaining insight over the course of the next few months into possible changes to the tax system that a new Government may bring in Spring.

Finally, the new Tax Practitioners Board commenced on 22 January 2013 and we look forward to working with the new Chair, Ian Taylor, and the newly constituted Board on matters affecting tax agents for the duration of the new Board’s term.

As always, the Tax Policy team is available to you by email.

Stephanie Caredes, CTA, is Tax Counsel at The Tax Institute

The Tax Institute is Australia’s leading professional association in tax. Its 13,000 members include tax agents, accountants and lawyers as well as tax practitioners in corporations, government and academia.