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On 20 July 2022 the ATO released its Taxpayer Alert TA 2022/2 to remind taxpayers not to undertake “treaty shopping” arrangements in order to reduce Australian withholding tax (WHT) under a Double Tax Agreement (DTA) in relation to a royalty or unfranked dividend payment from Australia.

The Government today introduced draft legislation to give effect to a pre-election promise to exempt (non-luxury) electric cars from fringe benefits tax (FBT). In further good news, hybrid electric cars have now been added to the exemption – we assume due to the extreme wait times for new electric cars at the moment, which would otherwise have significantly dampened the effect of the new law.

In 2022, Australia’s ‘perfect storm’ of low unemployment has required Australian businesses to think differently about how to attract and retain workers

Following on from the ATO’s guide to professional services firms’ allocation of profits in PCG 2021/4, the ATO has now further tightened its compliance scrutiny of individual professionals’ ability to assign or stream income away from themselves to family members by releasing its compliance approach to so-called Everett assignments.

The Western Australian Government has recently handed down its 2022-23 State budget announcing a record $33.9 billion investment in infrastructure over the next four years. The significant investment in infrastructure will not only create a strong pipeline of future economic activity but will shape the way we live and move around the state.

The New South Wales State Government has been busy with tax reform this year – from the raft of state taxation amendments commencing in May, to the first steps to abolish stamp duty introduced as part of their state budget last week.

The Fair Work Ombudsman (FWO) has announced its strategic priorities for 2022-23 including where audit and enforcement activities will be undertaken in relation to wage underpayments.

As we come to the end of the financial year, its timely to review your upcoming tax compliance obligations. For multinational entities, the disclosures and complexities of tax compliance generally have never been more complex or challenging. Here are some of the main IDS issues to be aware of.

The ATO released its June 2022 final Legal Professional Privilege (LPP) Protocol setting out the ATO's recommended approach for taxpayers to identify LPP communications and making LPP claims to the ATO in response to a formal notice to produce documents.

This financial year was a year of many changes in the R&D space – a new government, borders re-opening Australia to the world, easing supply chain pressures driving opportunities for trade, and an appetite to boost on-shore manufacturing.

Many people are getting excited about the Government’s pre-election promise to exempt electric cars from Fringe Benefits Tax (FBT) as of 1 July 2022. But before you rush to order your new vehicle, there are a few considerations for you to take into account. While this measure is expected to take effect shortly, there is no legislation for this yet – not even in draft – and parliament’s next sitting days have not been announced. This means any new legislation will no doubt need to be retrospective to have effect from 1 July 2022.

As the financial year draws to a close, now is the time for property developers to review their projects and determine whether there has been a change of intended or actual use of any residential premises which may require a GST adjustment under Division 129 of the GST Act.