The objective of this session was to provide an opportunity to the Australian Taxation Office to guide tax professionals as to its areas of specific interest in an agribusiness context. Areas that have been suggested to the Australian Taxation Office include:
- Most farming families will form part of the Justified Trusts program for Emerging Markets ($5M – $50M turnover) which is a couple of years away but in light of the Australian Taxation Office’s recent publication on the topic it would be worthwhile to have the Australian Taxation Office present their view on tax governance and what the consequences are of failing to meet (what they see as) satisfactory governance standards
- Following on from item 1 we would like to hear the Australian Taxation Office’s views on what would be considered to be an effective tax compliance framework; and
Other areas of interest to the committee include:
- What is on the Australian Taxation Office radar in areas such as instant asset write off and R&D concessions (primary production context)?
- The interpretation/application of s 100A ITAA36 and Division 7A in the context of primary production structures and whether the Australian Taxation Office has any guidance for minimising exposure to those provisions. Additionally, a consideration of the impact that those measures may have on reducing the amount of working capital available to the trading entity
- What the Australian Taxation Office is seeing in the context of primary production structures and restructuring and the use of inter-entity agreements including share-farming agreements and leases and whether any aspects of structuring and related agreements are of concern to the Australian Taxation Office. Additionally, some commentary on the utilisation of various rollovers and tax concessions (small business CGT concessions) in the context of restructuring would be useful; and
- Whether the Australian Taxation Office has any guidance on the use of the small business CGT concession and how practitioners can ensure that their client satisfy the requirements.