Australia: Federal Budget 2018
On 8 May 2018, the Commonwealth Treasurer, Mr. Scott Morrison, announced the Federal Budget 2018-19. Mr. Morrison said “in this year's Budget there are five things we must do to further strengthen our economy to guarantee the essentials
See MoreAustralia: ATO announces CbC reporting deadline for local file
The Australian Taxation Office (ATO) has released its final draft of the 2018 Message Structure Table (MST) and XML Schema for the Australian Local File (ALF) for tax year 2018. This will represent the second ALF that most taxpayers will be required
See MoreAustralia: Deadline for R&D Registration
The Research and Development (R&D) Tax Incentive registration deadline for those companies with a 30 June 2017 year end is rapidly approaching. The statutory deadline for lodging an application is 10 months after the end of the income year; for
See MoreAustralia: Minimum interest rate for simplified transfer pricing record keeping for 2018
The Australian Taxation Office (ATO) has updated its guidance on simplified transfer pricing record keeping options to include the minimum interest rate for the simplified option for low-level outbound loans for the 2018 income year, which is set at
See MoreAustralia introduces Treasury Laws Amendment (OECD MLI) Bill 2018
On 28 March 2018, the Australian Government introduced Treasury Laws Amendment (OECD Multilateral Instrument) Bill 2018 (the MLI Bill) into Parliament, together with a detailed explanatory memorandum. The MLI bill will need to be passed by the House
See MoreAustralia: Closing tax consolidation loopholes
On 22 March 2018, the Australian Government’s commitment to ensure multinationals pay the right amount of tax in Australia continued with the passage through Parliament of the Treasury Laws Amendment (Income Tax Consolidation Integrity) Bill
See MoreAustralia: Implementing the OECD Hybrid Mismatch Rules
The Australian Government announced in the 2016-17 and 2017-18 Budgets that it would implement the Organisation for Economic Co operation and Development’s (OECD) rules aimed at eliminating double non-taxation benefits from hybrid mismatch
See MoreAustralia: ATO releases draft PCG on diverted profits tax
On 7 February 2018, the Australian Taxation Office (ATO) publicly released a draft practical compliance guide PCG 2018/D2 concerning Diverted Profits Tax (DPT). The draft PCG has been released for public consultation and submissions close on
See MoreAustralia: Guidelines on attribution of ADI equity capital and controlled foreign entity equity
On 24 January 2018, the Australian Taxation Office (ATO) issued the Practical Compliance Guideline (PCG) 2018/1. This Guideline sets out how the ATO will administer subsection 820-300(3) of the Income Tax Assessment Act 1997 (ITAA
See MoreAustralia: Final guideline on cross-border related-party financing arrangements
The Australian Taxation Office (ATO) has published the final Practical Compliance Guideline PCG 2017/4 on its compliance approach to cross-border related financing arrangements. The guidance explains how taxpayers can price related party loans to
See MoreAustralia: New guidance on DPT
On 18 December 2017, the Australian Taxation Office (ATO) published a draft law companion guideline (LCG) 2017/D7 on Diverted profits tax (DPT) for public consultation. The draft Guideline addresses Schedule 1 to the Treasury Laws Amendment Act 2017
See MoreAustralia releases draft legislation to address hybrid mismatch
24 November 2017, Australia’s Treasurer released exposure draft legislation to address hybrid mismatch arrangements reaffirms the Turnbull Government’s continued focus on strengthening the integrity of Australia’s tax system, and stamping out
See MoreBusiness Council: Australia must cut company tax rate to boost up economy
Ms Jennifer Westacott, the chief executive of the Business Council of Australia warns, “Australia is at imminent risk of having the 3rd highest company tax rate in the developed world if the Parliament leaves the top rate frozen in time at
See MoreAustralia announces R&D activities registration deadline
The deadline for registration of research and development (R&D) activities are 31 October 2017 and companies that commence R&D activities need to consider the following in preparing for R&D registration like documentation, payments to
See MoreAustralia: Eligibility for the lower company tax rate
On 18 September 2017, the Australian Government released draft tax legislation for consultation to clarify that passive investment companies cannot access the lower company tax rate for small businesses. The Minister for Revenue and Financial
See MoreAustralia: Consultation on Consolidation Integrity Measures
On 11 September 2017, the Minister for Revenue and Financial Services released draft tax consolidation legislation and an explanatory memorandum for public consultation. These important measures restore integrity to the tax consolidation rules. The
See MoreU.S. and Australia sign an agreement on the exchange of CbC reports
According to an IRS announcement on its website, the competent authorities of the U.S. and Australia have concluded an arrangement on the exchange of Country-by-Country Reports. The competent authority arrangement (CAA) for exchange of
See MoreAustralia: CbC reporting local file instructions now available
On 4 July 2017, the Australian Taxation Office (ATO) published CbC reporting local file instructions together with some guidance on the meaning of “at the same time” for the purposes of the administrative solution. It allows reducing disclosures
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