Australian Tax Forum

Articles from the current issue:

• Suing Negligent Australian Tax Officials – Recent Judicial Developments & Possible Future Directions

  shopping_cart Add to cart 01 Jul 2020

  In Farah Custodians Pty Limited v Commissioner of Taxation (No 2), (‘Farah 2’) the Federal Court of Australia refused to strike out a taxpayer negligence claim against the Commissioner of Taxation. This is a significant interlocutory finding. In Australia, taxpayer negligence actions against the Commissioner of Taxation are uncommon and are typically summarily dismissed. None have proceeded to a full hearing.

• To cap or not to cap? Policy options for dealing with the costs of managing tax affairs deduction in Australia

  shopping_cart Add to cart 01 Jul 2020

  In the lead-up to the 2019 Federal Election the Australian Labor Party proposed, inter alia, to cap the cost of managing tax affairs deduction at $3,000. While there was much commentary in relation to this particular deduction from politicians and even more backlash from practitioners on the proposed capping of this deduction, there remains a dearth of academic research in this area – both in the Australian context and abroad.

• Tax-driven Off-Market Buybacks (TOMBs): Time to Lay Them to Rest

  shopping_cart Add to cart 01 Jul 2020

  Tax-driven Off-Market Buybacks (TOMBs) have been used by large Australian companies to distribute cash and stream franking (tax) credits to low-tax-rate shareholders. While small in number, the amounts are significant, involving an estimated cost to government tax revenue in 2018 of around $2 billion. This paper reviews the current and historical evolution of the regulation and taxation of TOMBs and argues that there are fundamental problems with corporate use of TOMBs. These include inequitable treatment of shareholders, government tax revenue costs, inconsistency with good principles of taxation, arbitrary tax determinations and practices which are difficult to justify. Since corporates can distribute cash to shareholders using other, quite standard, capital management techniques, we argue that a social cost-benefit analysis leads to the conclusion that TOMBs should be prohibited.

• Fostering Australian R&D activity through industry-university collaboration

  shopping_cart Add to cart 01 Jul 2020

  The R&D Tax Incentive provides a legislative framework that aims to reward and stimulate investment in Australian R&D. Achieving the policy aim currently requires industry to navigate complex requirements that can sometimes elude the most sophisticated R&D participants. In such cases, support for industry comes from advisory specialists who assist with registration of the R&D activities and related Incentive claims via the taxation system.

• Promoting and Protecting the Economic Outcomes of Older Partnered Women and Widows: Challenges for Australia’s Retirement Income System

  shopping_cart Add to cart 01 Jul 2020

  Historically, retirement income policy has responded to women’s relatively limited ability to secure an independent retirement income through either a state age pension or a surviving spouse benefit, payable to widows upon death of their partner. The shift towards accumulation superannuation schemes in countries such as Australia has made surviving spouse pensions less relevant and left many women financially dependent on their partner in retirement. The economic risks faced by many women within retired couple households as a result of this shift have been neglected by policy makers, at least in part because of the pervasive assumption that intra-household resource allocations are beyond the purview of government. This paper aims to address the resulting policy gap by examining two broad approaches to protect economic outcomes for partnered older women in Australia’s superannuation-based retirement income system. One approach features measures aimed at enhancing women’s capacity to influence decision-making on household superannuation wealth; and the other focuses on regulatory settings that can influence who owns superannuation wealth within the household. We conclude 214 (2020) 35 AUSTRALIAN TAX FORUM by identifying specific opportunities to address imbalances in the entitlements of older Australian women to the superannuation assets held in their households.