Miscellaneous

Legislation has recently been enacted which delivers on the 2025/26 Federal Budget announcement to reduce student debts. Pursuant to this legislation: there is a one-off 20% reduction to Higher Education Loan Program debts and other student loans that were incurred on or before 1 June 2025; the minimum repayment threshold is increased from $54,435 in […]

From August 2025, the ATO is progressively including ‘debts on hold’ in relevant taxpayer ATO account balances. Editor: A ‘debt on hold’ is an outstanding tax debt where the ATO has previously paused debt collection actions. Tax debts will generally be placed on hold where the ATO decides it is not cost effective to collect […]

In a recent decision, the Administrative Review Tribunal (‘ART’) denied an offshore worker’s claim for work-related travel expenses, although it did allow his claim for home office expenses. During the relevant period, the taxpayer resided in Queensland with his family, while his employment as an engineer was primarily based at an offshore facility located off […]

Businesses with an annual aggregated turnover of less than $50 million now have up to four years from the date of their tax return assessment to request amendments (increased from two years).  This applies to assessments for the 2024/25 and later income years. If businesses make a mistake on a tax return amendment, they should […]

Taxpayers may need to lodge a Taxable payments annual report (‘TPAR’) online by 28 August if they have paid contractors to provide any of the following services on their behalf: building and construction; cleaning; courier and road freight; information technology; or security, investigation or surveillance. If the ATO is expecting a TPAR from a taxpayer […]

The ATO reminds shareholders of private companies that understanding how Division 7A of the tax legislation applies is crucial to avoiding costly tax consequences when accessing the company’s money or other benefits. When Division 7A applies, the recipient of a payment, loan or other benefit can be deemed to have been paid an unfranked dividend […]