Our latest insights

The Australian Tax Office (‘ATO’) on 11 June 2025 updated its Practical Compliance Guide PCG 2018/9 on corporate tax residence to reflect key changes including aligning tax compliance residence disclosures to the Consolidated Entity Disclosure Statement (‘CEDS’) for financial reporting purposes.

The ATO has confirmed a stricter application of section 99B - taxation of foreign trust distributions, meaning more distributions or benefits from foreign trusts to Australian residents may now be taxable.

The Australian Government announced in the 2023-2024 Mid-Year Economic and Fiscal Outlook measures now contained in Treasury Laws Amendment (Tax Incentives and Integrity) Bill 2024, which from 1 July 2025 will result in any GIC / SIC incurred by a taxpayer being non-deductible for income tax purposes.

On 19 February 2025, a pivotal Full Federal Court decision in respect of trust law and Division 7A was handed down by the Full Federal Court in Commissioner of Taxation v Bendel [2025] FCAFC 15 which has confirmed in favour of the taxpayer.

Updates to Foreign Resident Capital Gains Withholding (FRCGW) rules effective 1 January 2025 increase the withholding tax rate to 15% and remove the $750,000 threshold, applying to all Taxable Australian Property transactions. These changes aim to boost tax compliance for property deals. Find out more how to manage your obligations and avoid penalties.

Treasury is taking steps to ensure fairer tax treatment for foreign resident investors by tightening Australia's foreign resident Capital Gains Tax (CGT) regime. Proposed changes aim to broaden the CGT base and enhance integrity, impacting infrastructure, energy, agriculture, and more.

In the 2024-25 Federal Budget, the Government announced the discontinuation of previously announced rules to deny, from 1July 2023, tax deductions for payments made by Significant Global Entity’s (SGEs) relating to intangible assets connected with low corporate tax jurisdictions.

Treasury has recently released for consultation two draft Bills, announced as part of the 2023-24 Budget, to implement incentives for new Build-to-rent (“BTR”) developments. This forms part of the Governments key policy of increasing housing supply across Australia by stimulating interest in the BTR sector.

On 21 March 2024, the Federal Treasury released a package of Exposure Draft bills and Explanatory Memoranda in respect of the OECD Pillar Two global/domestic alternative minimum tax rules.

There is never an ideal time for receiving an ATO review, and the time commitment (and possibly the costs) can be significant when a taxpayer is ill-prepared.

The long-anticipated tax legislation impacting off-market share buy-backs and selective share reductions passed the Senate on 16 November 2023 and is awaiting Royal Assent.

On 7 June 2023, the ATO released the finalised Taxation Ruling TR 2023/1 on residency tests for individuals.