Greenwoods & Freehills Weekly Tax Highlights - Week Ended 5.3.10

ATO Documents

Released 3.3.09

Product Ruling
PR 2010/4: Income tax: Willmott Forests Premium Forestry Blend 2010 Project
Addenda 
Goods and Services Tax Rulings
GSTR 2006/7: Goods and services tax: how the margin scheme applies to a supply of real property made on or after 1 December 2005 that was acquired or held before 1 July 2000
GSTR 2006/8: Goods and services tax: the margin scheme for supplies of real property acquired on or after 1 July 2000
GSTR 2009/1: Goods and services tax: general law partnerships and the margin scheme
GSTR 2009/2: Goods and services tax: partitioning of land  

Released 5.3.10

New Interpretative Decisions
ATO ID 2010/52: Deductions and expenses: short sale transactions and securities lending arrangements
ATO ID 2010/53: Imputation: benchmark rule and non-share equity interests
ATO ID 2010/54: Capital Gains Tax: foreign source capital gains made by a resident trust for CGT purposes
ATO ID 2010/55: Capital gains tax: Australian source capital gains made by a resident trust for CGT purposes
Withdrawn Interpretative Decisions
ATO ID 2001/692: Capital Gains Tax - Marriage Breakdown - Court order to repay balance of loan 
ATO ID 2001/712: Capital Gains Tax: CGT small business relief: small business CGT affiliate
ATO ID 2001/747: Income tax: capital gains tax: Subdivision 126-B roll-over 
ATO ID 2001/755: Capital gains tax - scrip for scrip roll-over - takeover of C & W Optus by SingTel
ATO ID 2002/1003: Capital gains tax - small business concessions - active assets - trade debtors 
ATO ID 2002/1019: CGT - Creation of contractual rights for the acquisition of a CGT asset
ATO ID 2002/366: Income Tax: Capital gains tax: transferring CGT assets from a company to an individual 
ATO ID 2002/386: Income Tax: Capital gains tax: related capital improvements - subdivision of land
ATO ID 2002/393: Income tax: Capital gains tax - cost base of asset to which a beneficiary becomes absolutely entitled
ATO ID 2002/395: Beneficiary becomes absolutely entitled to trust asset - whether any capital gain or loss arises 
ATO ID 2002/411: Capital gains tax - scrip for scrip roll-over - ineligible proceeds
ATO ID 2002/903: Capital Gains Tax: foreign source capital gains made by a resident trust for CGT purposes
ATO ID 2002/913: Capital gains tax: Australian source capital gains made by a resident trust for CGT purposes
ATO ID 2002/945: Capital Gains Tax: Small business relief - Change of choice from roll-over to retirement exemption
ATO ID 2002/956: Compensation ex gratia payment
ATO ID 2002/967: Employee Share Scheme - Capital Gains Tax - liability of Trustee on disposal of shares or rights
ATO ID 2002/968: Employee Share Scheme- Capital gains tax - liability of Trustee on forfeiture of shares or rights by employee
ATO ID 2003/193: Capital loss on withdrawal from a superannuation fund
ATO ID 2004/516: Commercial debt forgiveness: residual forgiven amount - cost base of assets
ATO ID 2004/517: Commercial debt forgiveness: company deemed to have net forgiven amount - agreement for creditor to forgo capital loss
ATO ID 2004/524: Company tax losses: deduction choice and ordering rule
ATO ID 2004/552: Company tax losses: same business test - not practicable to show continuity of ownership test satisfied for any period
ATO ID 2004/553: Company tax losses: same business test - latest time practicable to show continuity of ownership test satisfied
ATO ID 2004/655: Company tax losses - same business test - start-up company unable to show that continuity of ownership test satisfied for any period
ATO ID 2006/284: Company tax losses: deducting losses from net exempt income
ATO ID 2007/197: Deductions and expenses: cost of shares not yet acquired in a short selling process
ATO ID 2007/198: Trading stock: short selling of shares

Australia-San Marino Tax Information Exchange Agreement 

On 5 March 2010, the Governments of Australia and the Republic of San Marino signed an Agreement for the Exchange of Information Relating to Taxes. The Agreement provides for the exchange of information on request in both criminal and civil tax matters.

Harrison and Commissioner of Taxation [2010] AATA 155 (2 March 2010): The AAT has affirmed that a taxpayer had underreported her GST liabilities and upheld the Commissioner's decision to impose a shortfall penalty. The taxpayer, who operates a licensed brothel, maintained that payments received for services provided to clients were split between room hire and service fees to individual providers. The taxpayer argued that she was only liable to remit GST on the room hire component of payments received. However, the AAT, on the evidence before it, reached the view that the taxpayer provided the clients with a service, and engaged the individual providers as sub-contractors. It could therefore not be satisfied that the taxpayer was not liable to remit GST on the service fee component of the payments.