TaxBanter Tax Workshop Newcastle- 2024

The tax professional and ethical obligations

With verifiable ethics training a requirement of some professional associations, this session examines what it means to be a professional and the source of the ethical standards, specifically looking at:

• When an accountant risks compromising the duty of acting honestly and with integrity
• Why a tax agent’s failing to attend to their own taxation affairs is viewed as a breach of professional conduct
• How a tax agent who has always acted for a couple can manage a conflict of interest when dealing with the taxation affairs of one of them after the couple divorces
• Why an accountant cannot act as an auditor of their own SMSF

All TaxBanter tax training qualifies as eligible CPE/CPD hours.

• CPD/CPE: 3 hours

Grouping for aggregated turnover purposes

A practical, case study-based examination of the applicable concepts and grouping rules for working out aggregated turnover, which is relevant to a number of tax concessions, including:

• The R&D tax incentive
• Small business concessions
• Primary producer concessions

All TaxBanter tax training qualifies as eligible CPE/CPD hours.

• CPD/CPE: 3 hours

Intangible assets & their tax treatment

Intangible assets – i.e. assets which are not physical assets or a financial asset – can, and do, drive business value. They are easily transferred and hence, lend themselves to tax reduction schemes that are attracting the attention of tax authorities internationally. This session examines:

• The definitions of an intangible asset 
  • e.g. patents, goodwill, trademarks, in-house software, know-how, trade secrets
• Intangible assets that are depreciating assets
• Intangible assets as active assets for Div 152 purposes 
• Creating and commercialising intellectual property – income tax and CGT implications
• The Commissioner’s concerns with, and compliance approach to international arrangements regarding intangible assets.

All TaxBanter tax training qualifies as eligible CPE/CPD hours.

• CPD/CPE: 3 hours

Employee/independent contractor distinction, clarified

A case study approach exploring the practical consequences of recent Court decisions clarifying the distinction between an employee and independent contractor. In this session, we’ll consider: 

• What’s changed and what it means for many employees who are not on long term contracts
• When a worker is not an employee under the common law meaning of the term, but is deemed to be an employee 
• The ATO’s compliance approach to classifying workers as employees or independent contractors
• The employer’s risk misclassifying the worker under the Superannuation Guarantee (administration) Act 1992

All TaxBanter tax training qualifies as eligible CPE/CPD hours.

• CPD/CPE: 3 hours

Trust streaming revisited

A case study illustrating how the proportionate approach under s. 97(1)(a) of the ITAA 1936 operates:

• On the wording of the trustee resolution making a beneficiary presently entitled to trust income
• When the ATO increases the net income of a trust
• When the trustee resolution allocates specific types of income to particular beneficiaries.

All TaxBanter tax training qualifies as eligible CPE/CPD hours.

• CPD/CPE: 3 hours

Rental properties

The ATO’s six data matching programs will provide the Commissioner with information about rental properties that is expected to lead to collection of extra tax to fill the $1.3 billion rental tax gap.
 

In this session, we’ll cover the key contributors to the rental tax gap, such as incorrect reporting of income and expenses including interest expenses, insurance premiums, claim payouts, repairs costs and capital works deductions. We will also review:

• The tax implications of refinancing, offset accounts and redraw facilities
• Deducibility of holding costs 
• Vacant land rules
• Capital works v capital allowances v repairs deductions
• Second hand assets — depreciation and how rules interact with CGT on sale
• When a property is available for rent and its relevance
• Travel expenses

All TaxBanter tax training qualifies as eligible CPE/CPD hours.

• CPD/CPE: 3 ho

Application of Part IVA in the SME space

Part IVA, as amended in 2013 to remedy weaknesses that had been revealed by a number of significant Court decisions, now requires the Part IVA analysis to start with the question of whether a person participated in a scheme for the sole or dominant purpose of enabling the taxpayer to obtain a tax benefit. 

An inquiry focussing on whether there were ‘other ways (e.g. more convenient, or commercial, or frugal ways) in which the taxpayer might have achieved the substance and effect that it achieved from, or in connection with the scheme’ may make it easier for the Commissioner to identify a tax benefit, especially in the SME market.

This session will examine the changes to Part IVA and considers how the changes have affected the operation of Part IVA and its application to SMEs.

All TaxBanter tax training qualifies as eligible CPE/CPD hours.

• CPD/CPE: 3 hours

Employee benefits — the income and GST consequences

A case study-based approach to practically explore the income tax and GST consequences of an employer providing benefits to an employee.

All TaxBanter tax training qualifies as eligible CPE/CPD hours.

• CPD/CPE: 3 hours

Employee share schemes for SMEs

Employee share schemes have become more attractive for unlisted bodies after recent changes to the Corporations Law reducing the associated red tape. This paper considers 

• The benefits of an ESS
• The regulatory framework for unlisted companies
• The tax treatment of ESS:
• Non-concessional
• Concessional
• Employer obligations
• Tax implications of benefits provided to employees / non-employees

All TaxBanter tax training qualifies as eligible CPE/CPD hours.

CPD/CPE: 3 hours

Estate planning: Planning for a better tax outcome

Asset protection (and tax) is foremost when considering strategies for accumulating and holding assets. 

Planning for how those assets are to be transferred to the next generation requires consideration, not only of likely tax consequences, but also of strategies to guard against disputes. 

This session will consider the tax implications of various estate planning strategies for dealing with:

• the family home / holiday house
• superannuation interests
• loans to family members
• bequests of valuable assets
• control of the family business

All TaxBanter tax training qualifies as eligible CPE/CPD hours.

• CPD/CPE: 3 hours

Catching up with the residency rules

Proposals to change the tax residency rules have been under consideration for several years, even as the Courts have clarified the application of our existing rules. In this session, we’ll examine:

• The current residency rules for individuals and entities
• The proposed changes to the residency rules for individuals and entities
• How Australia's double tax agreements (DTAs) interact with the residency rules in the Tax AcT

All TaxBanter tax training qualifies as eligible CPE/CPD hours.

• CPD/CPE: 3 hours