Our December 2016 Tax Newsletter, contains information on a number of important taxation developments:
- Contrived trust arrangements in ATO sights – The ATO has cautioned taxpayers against arrangements that seek to minimise tax by creating artificial differences between the taxable net income and distributable income of closely held trusts.
- GST and countertrade transactions – The ATO has issued a Practical Compliance Guideline which sets out its compliance approach, in the context of GST, to entities that enter into countertrade transactions as part of carrying on their enterprise.
- Companies held to be resident and liable to tax in Australia – In a long-running saga, the High Court has unanimously dismissed the appeals of four corporate taxpayers.
- ATO data-matching programs continue – The ATO has advised that it will continue with data-matching programs relating to share transactions, debit and credit card transactions and online selling.