News & Info

The Tax Office has provided a Media Release 2008/30 in which it alerts trustees of SMSFs who engage in what we might term sloppy practices at best or otherwise manipulative behaviour aimed at circumventing the contribution rules introduced under Better Super.

The Federal Government has allowed the Better Super changes of the last 12 months to bed down, by not announcing any changes to existing arrangements in this years Federal Budget.

The roundup can be viewed here.

On May 8, Taxpayers Australia’s representative attended the National Tax Liaison Group (NTLG) FBT Subcommittee meeting. Issues discussed are included in the agenda for the meeting.

On Friday 16 May, Taxpayers Australia’s representative attended the ATO Tax Practitioner Forum (ATPF). The Agenda includes topics discussed at the meeting and the ATO’s draft responses.

In Annette Sampson’s article appearing in The Age on May 28, she covered selected items from the Federal Budget handed down on May 13, and sought Taxpayers Australia CEO, Tony Greco’s input. This is a transcript of his contribution to this article.

In Barbara Drury’s article appearing in The Age on May 28, she revisited the year-end coverage of tax claims – in particular those most frequently forgotten. The following is an extract from that article, outlining Taxpayers Australia CEO, Tony Greco’s views on some of these often over-looked items.

On the 13th May 2008, Wayne Swan handed down Labor’s first Federal budget since Ralph Willis in 1995. In the past we saw Robert Menzies’ push for the “forgotten people” followed by John Howard’s little Aussie “battler”. You may have been one of the “forgotten people” or a “battler”, but this year you were a winner if you are a “working family”.

Tax law amendments during 2007 increased the flexibility of family trusts. Two of those measures are to be reversed: the meaning of family and the test individual one-off variation.

Budget overview 2008