Last week the Federal Government announced its plans to deal with the backlog of unlegislated tax laws. This is a welcome development for business and individuals across the country.

The Government’s move will scrap a number of unwelcome tax measures and start the process of clearing the fog of tax law that has created uncertainty and hamstrung businesses to make informed investment decisions.

In particular we applaud the Government for their sensible decision to scrap the cap on self-education expense deductions that was proposed by the previous government.

The Tax Institute has been the leading advocate for action to address the growing length of the unenacted tax law list.

We welcome both the Government’s acknowledgment of the long-held concerns of Tax Institute members and the commitment to action that should inject much-needed certainty into our tax system.

We look forward to consulting with the Government in the short period ahead to ensure appropriate decisions are made about the fate of the 64 measures that are on the chopping block. It is also important for the Government to continue the reform of the trust tax law in Division 6 and also Division 7A and UPEs.

Members of our expert technical committees are poring over the measures with a view to providing advice to the Treasury and the Board of Taxation in the next two weeks.

It is only through increased engagement with tax professionals that we will achieve a simpler, more equitable and more efficient tax system and avoid ever again having such an extensive list of tax law that remains unenacted.

Robert Jeremenko

Robert Jeremenko CTA is Senior Tax Counsel of 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.