Notwithstanding there have been a number of recent cases dealing with Part IVA, its scope of operation and application remain uncertain. Arguably, a major contributor to this uncertainty is the federal government’s announcement that “it would act to protect the integrity of Australia’s tax system by introducing amendments to Part IVA of the income tax law”. A further announcement clarified the position stating “the Government does not propose to change the core operation of the ‘purpose’ test in Part IVA, which was designed to be the key determinant of whether the general anti-avoidance rule applies to a scheme”. The proposed amendments took effect from 1 March 2012. The uncertainty can have a serious impact for advisers in advising on and implementing transactions and restructures that involve a detailed analysis of the tax outcomes and ultimately result in “tax benefits”.
This workshop involves a number of case studies that will:
- question whether Part IVA needs changing and analyse the impact of the amendments to the extent they have been released
- consider the potential application of Part IVA to what could be characterised as “plain vanilla” transactions
- explore the benefits of taxpayers contemporaneously addressing.