Items Tagged With "Tax"

The Assistant Treasurer, Senator Nick Sherry, has today announced the Rudd Government’s plans to amend the tax law to confirm the practice of treating the investor in an instalment warrant over a single exchange traded security in a company, trust or stapled entity as the owner of the listed security for income tax purposes.

“This will benefit investors in instalment warrants primarily by confirming there is no capital gains tax (CGT) event at the time of the last instalment,” the Assistant Treasurer said.

The Assistant Treasurer, Nick Sherry, has today released the Rudd Government’s updated regular forward work program outlining the consultation process for announced tax measures, with a proposed schedule of reforms to be introduced in the current sittings of Parliament.

“This forward work program shows the Rudd Government is consulting with the community as it gets on with the job of tax reform,” the Assistant Treasurer said.

The Assistant Treasurer, Senator Nick Sherry, at a ceremony in Canberra today, has signed an amended tax treaty between Australia and Malaysia, enabling the greater exchange of information on potential tax abuse.

“Tax evasion resulting from people hiding money offshore is a problem for every country and a significant risk to the integrity of our tax system,” the Assistant Treasurer said.

The Assistant Treasurer, Senator Nick Sherry, has today released for public consultation the Rudd Government's draft legislation aimed at ensuring individuals receiving income from trusts pay their fair share of tax.

To achieve this, the proposed changes extend tax file number (TFN) withholding arrangements to closely held trusts, including family trusts.

"This important measure will improve the fairness and integrity of the tax law by shedding light on income derived from certain types of trusts,” the Assistant Treasurer said.

The Assistant Treasurer, Nick Sherry, announced today that negotiations to update Australia’s tax treaty with Austria will take place in March 2010.

“Australia and Austria share close links through a number of bilateral agreements and historic migration dating back 200 years,” the Assistant Treasurer said.

“Our economic and trade relationship is growing and modernising the treaty will further enhance this relationship.”

The Assistant Treasurer, Senator Nick Sherry, is warning Australians of a new email phishing scam using the lure of a tax refund to try to steal private information.

“This particular scam is quite sophisticated and uses convincing fakes of what could be easily mistaken for Australian Tax Office web pages,” the Assistant Treasurer said.

“The email claims to be from the Australian Taxation Office and shows a fake Tax Office email address as the sender.”

* Release with Wayne Swan

The Rudd Government is encouraging Australian families to keep their receipts from education related expenses so they can take advantage of the Education Tax Refund (ETR).

Figures from the Australian Taxation Office (ATO) have revealed that only half of all eligible Australian families have lodged a claim, leaving more than $500 million in unclaimed benefits.

Back to school costs obviously put extra financial pressure on Australian families at this time of year.

The Assistant Treasurer, Senator Nick Sherry, today announced that Australia and Chile had reached agreement in principle on a new income tax treaty - the first between the two countries.

The proposed treaty is based on the OECD Model Tax Convention, with some mutually agreed variations reflecting the economic, legal and cultural interests of each country.

"Chile is a key economic and trading partner for Australia in the growing South American market, with two-way trade now worth over $1.28 billion," the Assistant Treasurer said.

The Rudd Government has made further progress in the reform of the administration of the good and services tax (GST), with the Assistant Treasurer, Senator Nick Sherry, today releasing a new round of draft legislation for public comment.

The measures in the draft legislation form part of a package of reforms that were originally announced in the 2009‑10 Budget and include:

    * allowing entities to self‑assess their eligibility to form, alter or revoke a GST group or joint venture and to do so at any time during a tax period;

* Release by Nick Sherry & Jim Turnour


The Assistant Treasurer, Senator Nick Sherry, and Federal Member for Leichhardt, Jim Turnour, are urging Cairns small business owners to take advantage of the upcoming stage of the Rudd Government's Keep Cairns Working program.

A specialist taskforce from the Australian Tax Office will be Cairns from 1-5 February to provide onsite, one-on-one support to small business owners who may be having difficulties with finances and tax matters.