In the three months to 30 September, creditor-initiated Court liquidations were up by nearly 34% and receivership appointments up by 13%. Very high numbers of director-initiated corporate insolvencies were also the result of ...

Breaching the convention not to process retrospective legislation changes that are damaging to tax payers, the Government has legislation before parliament to change the date of issue of Director Penalty Notice...

There are no automatic grouping provisions in the GST legislation. If you have more than one entity (partnerships, companies or trusts) in your business group, you will have to account for GST payable and input tax credits on all inter-entity transactions...

Question from Stuart: If you attempt to make a binding nomination to a non-dependant sibling, how and when would you find out that it is not valid?

Question: An article in a recent newspaper reported that shares such as speculative mining shares purchased for resale at a gain are not eligible for the CGT discount. It went on to state that the discount is only available for shares delivering both income and capital gains. Is that correct? Was this intended? I am sure this would not be practised by taxpayers or tax agents.

Not so, said the Full Federal Court. In a case involving the Tax Office, Esso and BHP (Esso Australia Resources Pty Ltd v FCT(1)) the Full Federal Court dismissed the Commissioner’s application for adjournment...

Yet another four Bills have been introduced into the House of Representatives relating to the Petroleum Resource Rent Tax (PRRT). These are...

Question: We have an investment property that we purchased three years ago for $245,000. We wish to demolish the house and build a new home which would become our main residence. If, after five years as our main residence, we sold the property for $900,000, is CGT applicable? If so, what proportion?

Question: Our company pays the annual leave loading to employees when they take their annual leave. They do not have an entitlement to that leave loading until the annual leave is actually taken. If employees terminate, the leave loading is not payable. Will the leave loading form part of our deductible annual leave expense when we raise the provision for annual leave at the year end? Or, does it only become deductible at the time the employees take the leave and the loading is paid?

The commencing date for the Personal Property Securities Act 2009 has been delayed yet again. The start date of 31 October 2011 has now been deferred until sometime in February 2012. This Act will affect all interests in personal property both tangible and intangible, including motor vehicles...

Which is better? A tax offset is not the same as a tax deduction. A deduction is subtracted from your assessable income to calculate your taxable income whilst tax offsets are deducted from the income tax payable. As your income tax will always be less then...

Question from Steve: If your Will covers all your assets, does that still mean you need to make beneficiary nominations in your superannuation fund?

It seems counter-intuitive, but the Government will reduce discounts for upfront an early repayment of high education loans taken out to fund university fees in an attempt to boost revenues...

Question from Michael: The list of companies that was outlined in your webinar presentation is mainly mining and resource related. Is this a back-door mining tax?

Question from Steve: Does the TFN (Tax File Number) reporting of trust distributions relate to when the trustee declares the entitlement or alternatively when it is actually paid?

The 2011 Tax Office Annual Report shows that tax debts owed by insolvent businesses and private individuals increased by 35% to $5.3 billion. There were 1,055 wind-up notices issued...

Reasonable director’s fees are deductible when the company has incurred them, even if not yet paid...

Question from Greg: Do you have any views on how the increase in superannuation guarantee levy will be applied to "total cost" employment contracts? Where the total remuneration package is defined, will the increase in superannuation levy be borne by the employer or will it reduce the employee's cash salary?