Our latest insights

In October 2021, over 135 jurisdictions (including Australia) joined a ground-breaking plan to update key elements of the international tax system. The Global Anti-Base Erosion Rules (GloBE) are intended to ensure large multinational enterprises pay a minimum level of tax on the income arising in each of the jurisdictions where they operate. The OECD released the Pillar Two Model Rules on 20 December 2021, and Commentary to accompany the Rules on 14 March 2022. Further guidance is expected by way of an Implementation Framework, but that may not be completed and available until the end of 2022.

The ATO has recently issued a new class ruling expanding on what products qualify as a ‘portable electronic device’ for FBT exemption purposes. In addition to devices that were designed to operate as a small, portable complete unit without an external power supply such as laptops, mobile phones and similar devices, the new ruling extends to include portable display monitors that run in connection with phones, tablets, etc. Espresso Displays were an instrumental part of the process, having obtained the ruling for their portable screens.

With the end of the financial year less than a month away, now is an opportune time to review your business affairs as part of your year-end tax planning

Australia entered into the Economic Cooperation and Trade Agreement (“ECTA”) on 2 April 2022. One surprising feature of the ECTA was the side agreement for Australia to essentially overturn, by way of domestic legislation, the result of the full Federal Court decision of Satyam Computer Services Limited v Commissioner of Taxation [2018] FCAFC 172. That case held that Australia had taxing rights over certain income (under the tax treaty between Australia and India) derived by primarily Indian offshore IT companies, even though those services were performed offshore, and even where Australia’s domestic legislation did not otherwise impose tax.

When it comes to M&A transactions, businesses can often be eligible for GST refunds – but how do you determine if this is the case, and how much is recoverable? In our latest Tax in M&A series, we look at a threshold test that can be applied to transactions whereby businesses only make limited financial supplies. But there is a limit to how much GST can be claimed back when the Financial Acquisitions Threshold (‘FAT’) has been exceeded.

AusTrade announced the opening of the next round of the 2023 Export Market Development Grant (EMDG) program. Applications are proposed to open for 5 weeks, from 31 May to 5 July 2022. The EMDG program is the Federal Government’s cornerstone funding program encouraging Australian businesses to seek export opportunities for their goods, services, intellectual property and software. The program allows businesses to access grants over an 8 year period, or up to a total funding amount of $770,000. The reform model is available to businesses with a turnover of less than $20m as at 30 June 2022.

Australian manufacturers have been through difficult times, particularly with the shutdown of the automotive industry, but remaining businesses are proving to be agile and resilient having already battled through lots of challenges. In addition, the accelerating pace of new technologies being introduced, combined with COVID-19 disruption and the Government’s substantial industry support, many manufacturing business models have been fundamentally challenged for the better.

With rising supply chain costs and disruptions on a global scale as a result of the pandemic, Australia has been a prime example of resilience by increasing reliance on domestic products to minimise shortages. Although we’ve increased the supply of Australian products, some organisations struggle to compete with global sellers. As supply chains slowly ease back into a pre-pandemic rhythm and import capabilities open back up to their full potential, to compete on a global scale more efficiently, this creates an opportunity to consider where trade policies via tariffs and quotas could be applied to even out the playing field.

The Australian Labor Party (Labor) today announced that, if elected, it will seek to introduce measures to "close tax loopholes exploited by multinational companies".

A foreign real estate buyer has been penalised $250,000 by the ATO after purchasing Australian residential properties without being authorised by the Foreign Investment Review Board (FIRB). It was found that in addition to owning two established properties that were also in breach, the investor had purchased a further four unauthorised properties.

We have now been through numerous Top 1,000 ATO Taxpayer Reviews and are yet to hear a business state that the process is exactly as they envisaged, or less onerous than anticipated.

The ATO has recently released findings from its Next 5,000 reviews to date. The program is conducted by the ATO via its Streamlined Assurance Reviews (“SAR”). This framework generally involves a review of the group’s tax returns for the two most recent years lodged, and is focused on entities within the group with significant activities or transactions.