MID-YEAR ECONOMIC AND FISCAL OUTLOOK

3IX37

For whoever likes to see a big picture, here is a bit bed time reading.


Mid-year economic and fiscal outlook for 2012/13
CCH Summary (Extract) on 22 October 2012

The government has released Mid-year Economic and Fiscal Outlook 2012-13 (MYEFO), with the budget returning to surplus this financial year as scheduled, despite worsening global conditions cutting almost $22b from tax receipts, including a write-down of $4b in 2012/13 alone.
As part of MYEFO, the government has discussed some measures relating to tax and superannuation as follows.

ACNC — removal of ASIC fee
From 1 July 2013, the annual review fee that is currently charged by ASIC for corporations that are registered with the Australian Charities and Not-for-profits Commission (ACNC) will be removed. This fee is being removed as ASIC will no longer need to perform annual reviews in respect of entities registered with the ACNC. The ACNC will now be assuming oversight of these entities.

Baby Bonus — reduce to $3,000 for second and subsequent children
From 1 July 2013, the Baby Bonus payment for second and subsequent children will be reduced to $3,000. In addition, eligible families will remain able to claim Family Tax Benefit Part A and/or Part B, as well as the Child Care Rebate and the new Schoolkids Bonus, to assist them with the costs of raising their child.

CGT

Extensions to the taxation relief to facilitate Stronger Super
Merging superannuation funds will be given greater flexibility by making the following changes to the taxation relief to support Stronger Super:


backdating the taxation relief for mergers to apply from 1 October 2011

extending the relief to all revenue assets regardless of the net position of the entity

removing the 12-month rule which prevents certain losses from being transferred, and

ensuring that members transferred under MySuper retain the right to claim a personal tax deduction in the new fund.
See also the Minister for Financial Services and Superannuation media release of 3 August 2012.

Loss relief for the Military Superannuation Benefits Fund
Loss relief will be provided to the trustee of the Military Superannuation Benefits Fund to allow the transfer, on or before 1 July 2012, of realised tax losses to the ARIA Investments Trust. This measure facilitates the government’s previous decision to consolidate the trustee arrangements of the Commonwealth’s main civilian and military superannuation schemes.


Commonwealth penalty unit to increase
To reflect inflation, the value of all Commonwealth penalty units is proposed to increase from $110 to $170, with effect from up to one month after the amending legislation receives royal assent. The amending Bill (Crimes Legislation Amendment (Serious Drugs, Identity Crime and Other Measures) Bill 2012) has been introduced to parliament.

Court fees — increase
Fees charged by the Family Court, the Federal Court, the Federal Magistrates Court and the High Court will be increased. This measure builds on the 2012/13 Budget measure. See also the Attorney-General’s media release of 10 September 2012.

FBT

Reform of living-away-from-home allowances and benefits
The start date of the reforms to living-away-from-home (LAFH) allowances and benefits, announced in the 2011-12 Mid-Year Economic and Fiscal Outlook (MYEFO) and the 2012/13 Budget, has been deferred from 1 July 2012 to 1 October 2012. See also the Assistant Treasurer’s media release on 28 June 2012.

Removal of concessional treatment of “in-house” fringe benefits if accessed through a salary sacrifice arrangement
The concessional FBT treatment for in-house fringe benefits will be removed if they are accessed by way of a salary sacrifice arrangement. This measure will apply from 22 October 2012 for salary sacrifice arrangements entered into from its announcement on 22 October 2012, and from 1 April 2014 for salary sacrifice arrangements entered into prior to its announcement on 22 October 2012.

GST

Reforms to the GST margin scheme
The proposed restructure of the margin scheme provisions announced in the 2010/11 Budget will not proceed. Through public consultation it became clear that the restructure was likely to deliver little, if any, benefit. The government will proceed with the minor technical amendment relating to subdivided land. Extending the scope of the technical amendment relating to subdivided land will ensure that taxpayers are able to use the consideration method, the valuation method, or the GST-inclusive market value method, whichever is appropriate, when calculating the margin on a taxable supply of subdivided land. The amendment will apply from the first quarterly tax period after assent, rather than from 1 July 2012 as previously announced.

Restrictions on GST refunds — revisions and changed start date
Revisions have been made to the 2009/10 Budget measure relating to GST administration. The revisions concern the implementation of a recommendation to amend the GST law to clarify the circumstances in which the restriction on refunds applies to overpayments of GST. The revisions will allow taxpayers to self-assess their entitlement to a GST refund by reference to particular criteria and will ensure that the restriction on refunds also applies to refunds associated with miscalculations of GST payable on a supply. The amendments will apply to tax periods commencing on or after 17 August 2012. See also the Assistant Treasurer’s media release of 17 August 2012.

International tax — TIEA countries
The list of countries reported in the Taxation Administration Regulations 1976 whose residents are eligible to access a reduced rate of withholding tax on certain distributions from Australian managed investment trusts has been updated, with effect from 1 July 2012. This measure updates the list to include the Cook Islands, Macau, Mauritius and the Republic of Korea. The reduced withholding tax rate is restricted to residents of countries with which Australia has effective exchange of information arrangements and which are listed in the Regulations.

MITs

Concessional tax treatment for energy efficient buildings
A 10% concessional final withholding tax rate will be introduced for fund payments to non-residents in countries that have an exchange of information arrangement with Australia. The concessional tax rate will apply to fund payments from managed investment trusts (MIT) that only invest in newly constructed energy efficient commercial buildings. See also the joint media release of 27 June 2012 issued by the Assistant Treasurer and the Parliamentary Secretary for Climate Change and Energy Efficiency.

New tax system — deferral to streamline trust reform
The start date of the new tax system for managed investment trusts (MITs) will be deferred by 12 months to 1 July 2014. The deferred start date will coincide with the proposed start date for the broader reform of trust income taxation. This will allow more time to develop the law and for industry to prepare for changes. The government will also amend the tax law to allow MITs and certain other trusts to continue to disregard the trust streaming provisions for the 2012/13 and 2013/14 income years unless they have elected or elect to apply these rules. This will ensure the interim arrangements for MITs continue to apply until the commencement of the new tax system for MITs. See also the Assistant Treasurer’s media release of 30 July 2012.

Monthly PAYG instalments for large companies
Tax instalments for large companies will be better aligned with their income and trading conditions by requiring companies to make Pay As You Go (PAYG) income tax instalments monthly, rather than quarterly. This will also align large companies’ PAYG instalments with their GST payments. This reform will be phased in over three years, with companies moving to monthly PAYG instalments:


from 1 January 2014 for companies with a turnover of $1b or more (around 350 companies)

from 1 January 2015 for companies with a turnover of $100m or more (around 2,500 companies), and

from 1 January 2016 for companies with a turnover of $20m or more (around 10,500 companies).

Personal income tax

Ensuring similar income tax treatment for beneficiaries of the household assistance package
An income tax exemption has been provided for the proportion of the transitional farm family payment (TFFP) provided to recipients in lieu of the clean energy advance. Payments of the clean energy advance to other transfer payment recipients are already exempt from income tax. This measure ensures that TFFP recipients are taxed in a similar manner to other recipients of household income.

Exempting Income Support Bonus from income tax
The government has exempted from income tax the Income Support Bonus provided to recipients of certain payments and allowances. The Income Support Bonus was announced in the 2012/13 Budget.

Exemption of pay and allowances for Operation Riverbank and Palate II personnel
The income tax exemption for base pay and allowances paid to Australian Defence Force personnel deployed on Operation Riverbank and Operation Palate II has been extended until 31 December 2013.

Overseas forces tax offset for Operation Aslan personnel
The overseas forces tax offset has been made available for Australian Defence Force personnel deployed on Operation Aslan.

Tax concessions for Australian Defence Force personnel deployed to Libya
Income tax concessions have been provided to Australian Defence Force personnel deployed in support of the United Nations Security Council Resolutions 1970 and 1973 to enforce a no-fly-zone in relation to Libya during 2011.

Philanthropy — updating DGRs
Since the 2012/13 Budget, the following have been approved as deductible gift recipients (DGRs):


Australia for UNHCR, from 28 June 2012

Yachad Accelerated Learning Project, from 1 July 2012 to 30 June 2015

The Diamond Jubilee Trust Australia, from 1 November 2012 to 30 June 2015, and

Teach for Australia, from 1 January 2013

Private Health Insurance Rebate

Indexing the government’s contribution
The government’s contribution to private health insurance will be calculated using commercial premiums as at 1 April 2013 and then indexed annually by the lesser of CPI or the actual increase in commercial premiums. In conjunction with this measure, arrangements for the 2013 premium setting round will be streamlined. The measure will take effect from 1 April 2014.

Removal of rebate on lifetime health cover loading
The Private Health Insurance (PHI) Rebate on the Lifetime Health Cover (LHC) loading component of PHI premiums will be removed. The LHC loading is an additional 2% charge to a person’s PHI premium for every year elapsed after their thirty-first birthday before they take out PHI. LHC loadings are only payable against the hospital component of a person’s PHI premium. The measure will take effect from 1 July 2013.


Superannuation

Greater certainty in relation to fund managers
The government will ensure that superannuation fund members are not disadvantaged where their benefits are rolled over within a fund or between funds in response to the Stronger Super reforms. Currently, the superannuation tax laws provide for a “proportioning rule”, which is an integrity rule designed to remove individual members’ capacity to reduce their tax liability by manipulating the “taxable” and “tax-free” components of their superannuation benefits. As an integrity rule addressing the behaviour of individual members, the proportioning rule was intended to apply only to transactions that are within the control of the individual members. This measure will ensure that the proportioning rule does not apply to transactions that are beyond the control of individual members. This is expected to provide greater certainty for superannuation funds that are considering entering into superannuation fund mergers and certain transactions in response to Stronger Super.

Transfer of lost member accounts to the Tax Office
Reforms will be implemented to preserve the value of lost member accounts in the superannuation system, and ensure more of these accounts are reunited with their owners. The following are proposed to take effect from 31 December 2012:


the account balance threshold below which inactive accounts, and accounts of uncontactable members, are required to be transferred to Tax Office will be increased from $200 to $2,000, and

the period of inactivity before an account of an unidentifiable member is required to be transferred to the Tax Office will be reduced from five years to 12 months.
The Tax Office will use its data matching resources to match these lost accounts with members and assist those members to be reunited with their lost superannuation. The government will consult further on additional ways to facilitate this process of reuniting members with their lost accounts.
In addition, the government will pay interest at a rate equivalent to CPI inflation from 1 July 2013 on all superannuation accounts reclaimed from the Tax Office.

SMSF levy reforms
The levy imposed on SMSFs will be reformed, by ensuring the levy is collected from SMSFs in a more timely way, and increasing the levy to ensure the Tax Office’s costs of regulating the sector are fully recovered. Payment of the SMSF levy will be brought forward such that it is levied and collected in the same income year. This will ensure consistency with APRA regulated funds, which pay the Superannuation Supervisory Levy in the same financial year it is levied. The change in the timing of the collection of the SMSF levy will be phased in over the two years 2013/14 and 2014/15.
In addition, the SMSF levy will be increased from $191 to $259 pa from 2013/14.

Deceased estates
The law will be amended to allow the tax exemption for earnings on assets supporting superannuation pensions to continue following the death of a fund member in the pension phase until the deceased member’s benefits have been paid out of the fund. This change will have effect from 1 July 2012.

Superannuation Consumer Centre
The government will provide $10m over three years as a contribution to a non-government investment fund, the earnings of which will be used to fund the ongoing costs of a new Superannuation Consumer Centre (SCC). The government’s contribution will be contingent on matching funds being provided by industry. The SCC forms part of the government’s response to the Super System Review. The SCC will be a non-profit organisation with a primary focus on superannuation policy research and related consumer advocacy.

SuperStream — reduction in Superannuation Supervisory levy
The SuperStream component of the Superannuation Supervisory levy being collected from APRA regulated super funds will be reduced.

Tax administration — personal liability for corporate fault
A number of provisions in the taxation laws that impose a personal liability on individuals involved in the management of a company, for offences committed by the company, will be removed. This measure forms part of a broader project to implement a nationally consistent approach for imposing personal liability on individuals for corporate fault, and removing excessive regulatory burdens on company directors. See also the Parliamentary Secretary to the Treasurer’s media release of 14 August 2012 .

Tax agent services regime — financial advisers
Financial advisers who provide tax advice will be brought into the tax agent services regime, with effect from 1 July 2013. There will be a three-year transitional period to ensure that those in the financial services industry have appropriate time to adapt to the new regulatory requirements.

Tax compliance
The government will provide $390m to the Tax Office to continue to improve overall compliance with the tax and superannuation system. This will allow the Tax Office to:


continue strategic compliance initiatives to ensure Australians continue to pay their fair share of tax and that a level playing field is maintained for small business

follow-up on long-term outstanding debts

follow-up on lodgments for businesses, with two or more years of outstanding lodgments

address the escalation in the promotion and participation in tax avoidance and tax evasion schemes in Australia, and

target non-compliance relating to profit from criminal activities and organised crime, ensuring taxation and superannuation obligations are met.

Tax laws — miscellaneous amendments
Minor amendments will be made to the tax laws to correct technical defects, remove anomalies and address unintended outcomes which have been recently identified throughout the tax legislation. The amendments will address minor technical issues identified throughout the tax laws, including income tax, GST, fuel tax, minerals resource rent tax and petroleum resource rent tax legislation.

TOFA Stages 3 & 4 — extending the time for putting in place tax allocation hedging documentation for existing arrangements
The transitional provision for Taxation of Financial Arrangements (TOFA) Stages 3 and 4 will be amended to allow taxpayers additional time to comply with certain tax hedging documentation requirements with respect to existing financial arrangements. Taxpayers will be given until the later of 30 June 2011 and “at or soon after the making of a hedging election” to comply with tax hedging documentation requirements relating to the tax allocation of gains and losses. The amendments will apply from the start of the income year in which the TOFA Stages 3 and 4 provisions start to apply to the taxpayer.

WET — deferral of the wine producer rebate integrity measure
The start date of the 2012/13 Budget measure relating to the wine equalisation tax (WET) has been deferred to the later of 1 December 2012 or the date of assent of the amending legislation. The measure was originally announced to commence on 1 July 2012. See also the Assistant Treasurer’s media release of 29 June 2012.


reference:
http://www.cch.com.au/au/News/Sh ... ID=38897&Type=F
http://www.budget.gov.au/2012-13 ... d/2012-13_MYEFO.pdf