TAXATION – GOVERNMENT POLICY – AUSTRALIA

Equities titans say ‘leave dividend imputation alone’

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Original article by Vesna Poljak
The Australian Financial Review – Page: 13 & 20 : 3-Jun-15

Balanced Equity Management fund manager Andrew Sisson has urged the Australian Government to retain dividend imputation. He warning that scrapping the regime will result in lower dividend payouts and prompt more companies to shift their tax liabilities offshore. Veteran fund manager Peter Morgan also favours retaining the current system, as do Djerriwarrh Investments and Westpac. Perpetual did not make a submission on the Government’s tax white paper.

CORPORATES
BALANCED EQUITY MANAGEMENT PTY LTD, DJERRIWARRH INVESTMENTS LIMITED – ASX DJW, WESTPAC BANKING CORPORATION – ASX WBC, BT FINANCIAL GROUP PTY LTD, PERPETUAL LIMITED – ASX PPT, 452 CAPITAL PTY LTD, AMP LIMITED – ASX AMP, INSURANCE AUSTRALIA GROUP LIMITED – ASX IAG, NATIONAL AUSTRALIA BANK LIMITED – ASX NAB, QBE INSURANCE GROUP LIMITED – ASX QBE, BOND CORPORATION HOLDINGS LIMITED

Directors blast Coalition over tax

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Original article by Agnes King
The Australian Financial Review – Page: 5 : 21-May-15

Corporate directors have criticised the Australian Government for failing to include GST and superannuation in its tax reform agenda. Perpetual director Sylvia Falzon says tax reform is "pointless" if these issues are not part of the debate, while Wesfarmers director Jennifer Westacott argues that tax reform will encourage greater investment and workforce participation.

CORPORATES
PERPETUAL LIMITED – ASX PPT, WESFARMERS LIMITED – ASX WES, BUSINESS COUNCIL OF AUSTRALIA, SAI GLOBAL LIMITED – ASX SAI, REGIS HEALTHCARE LIMITED – ASX REG, TEN NETWORK HOLDINGS LIMITED – ASX TEN, COMMONWEALTH BANK OF AUSTRALIA – ASX CBA, BRAMBLES LIMITED – ASX BXB, INSURANCE AUSTRALIA GROUP LIMITED – ASX IAG, STOCKLAND – ASX SGP, BUSINESS COALITION FOR TAX REFORM

Treasury may go alone on ‘Google tax’

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Original article by Joanna Mather
The Australian Financial Review – Page: 9 : 10-Apr-15

The Australian Government would like to introduce changes to the taxation system as soon as possible. Treasury deputy secretary Robert Heferen told the Senate inquiry into corporate tax avoidance on 9 April 2015 that the Government should act now rather than wait for the OECD’s action plan on base erosion and profit shifting. The implementation of the OECD plan would be very complicated

CORPORATES
AUSTRALIA. DEPT OF THE TREASURY, ORGANISATION FOR ECONOMIC CO-OPERATION AND DEVELOPMENT, GOOGLE INCORPORATED, UNIVERSITY OF SYDNEY

Hockey’s $1b ‘Netflix’ tax

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Original article by Phillip Coorey
The Australian Financial Review – Page: 1 & 5 : 10-Apr-15

Australia’s federal and state Treasurers have struck a deal to extend the application of the GST to items costing less than $A1,000 that are bought online and sourced from offshore. This will include digital versions of books, music and films that are downloaded or streamed from offshore providers. News Corp Australia CEO Julian Clarke recently criticised foreign companies such as Netflix for failing to pay GST, arguing that it gives them an unfair advantage over local rivals in terms of pricing their products

CORPORATES
NEWS CORP AUSTRALIA PTY LTD, NEWS CORPORATION – ASX NWS, AUSTRALIA. DEPT OF THE TREASURY, NETFLIX INCORPORATED, GOOGLE INCORPORATED, APPLE INCORPORATED, MICROSOFT CORPORATION, EBAY INCORPORATED, AUSTRALIA. DEPT OF THE PRIME MINISTER AND CABINET, GROUP OF TWENTY (G-20), ORGANISATION FOR ECONOMIC CO-OPERATION AND DEVELOPMENT, AUSTRALIAN NATIONAL RETAILERS ASSOCIATION LIMITED

Keep tax credits, raise GST

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Original article by Patrick Durkin
The Australian Financial Review – Page: 8 : 7-Apr-15

A poll conducted among more than 560 members of the "Australian Financial Review" Business Leaders Panel suggests that Australians do not want the dividend imputation system to be abolished. They also expressed their opposition to proposals to remove tax concessions for superannuation and to reintroduce estate taxes. An increase in the goods and services tax rate is supported by 60 per cent of the panel

CORPORATES

Google tax to hit profit shifting

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Original article by Phillip Coorey, Laura Tingle
The Australian Financial Review – Page: 1 & 5 : 1-Apr-15

The Australian Government’s May 2015 Budget will include tax measures aimed at addressing the problem of profit-shifting by multinational corporations. The so-called "Google tax" will be modelled on the UK’s Diverted Profits Tax. The Australian Labor Party recently unveiled measures intended to combat profit-shifting. The Budget will also include a levy on bank deposits, while the small business sector will receive a tax cut

CORPORATES
AUSTRALIAN LABOR PARTY, AUSTRALIA. DEPT OF THE TREASURY, AUSTRALIA. DEPT OF THE PRIME MINISTER AND CABINET, GOOGLE INCORPORATED, GROUP OF TWENTY (G-20), AUSTRALIAN TAXATION OFFICE, THE GROUP OF EIGHT LIMITED, AUSTRALIA. DEPT OF EDUCATION AND TRAINING

Dividend credit debate splits business, investors

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Original article by Vesna Poljak, Shaun Drummond, Joanna Mather
The Australian Financial Review – Page: 1 & 8 : 31-Mar-15

Changes to the dividend imputation system are among the reforms canvassed in the Australian Government’s tax discussion paper, which was released in late March 2015. Wilson Asset Management chairman Geoff Wilson says scrapping dividend imputation credits may result in a sharp fall in yields for investors, while Fidelity fund manager Paul Taylor warns that it would result in poor decisions on the allocation of capital. However, some observers are in favour of reviewing dividend imputation

CORPORATES
WILSON ASSET MANAGEMENT, FIDELITY INVESTMENTS AUSTRALIA LIMITED, CREDIT SUISSE (AUSTRALIA) LIMITED, CORPORATE TAX ASSOCIATION, COCHLEAR LIMITED – ASX COH, GROUP OF 100, BUSINESS COALITION FOR TAX REFORM, WOOLWORTHS LIMITED – ASX WOW, WAVESTONE CAPITAL PTY LTD, CARDNO LIMITED – ASX CDD, AMP LIMITED – ASX AMP

Budget woos small firms, start-ups

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Original article by Phillip Coorey
The Australian Financial Review – Page: 1 & 4 : 25-Mar-15

The Australian Government’s May 2015 Budget will include tax relief for small businesses, including those that are not incorporated. There were concerns that they would not receive the proposed 1.5 per cent reduction in the company tax rate for small businesses. The Government may also introduce accelerated depreciation for assets held by small businesses, while it intends to wind back changes to employee option schemes that were implemented by the Australian Labor Party

CORPORATES
AUSTRALIA. DEPT OF INDUSTRY AND SCIENCE, AUSTRALIAN LABOR PARTY, AUSTRALIA. DEPT OF THE PRIME MINISTER AND CABINET

Big pressure to scrap small firms tax cut

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Original article by Phillip Coorey
The Australian Financial Review – Page: 5 : 24-Mar-15

The Council of Small Business Australia has urged the Federal Government to abandon a proposed 1.5 per cent tax cut for small businesses. CEO Peter Strong argues that the tax cut that has been proposed for the May 2016 Budget will do little to improve business confidence. The council instead favours the introduction of an accelerated depreciation rate of 150 per cent for the sector, a move which is also supported by several government MPs

CORPORATES
COUNCIL OF SMALL BUSINESS ORGANISATIONS OF AUSTRALIA LIMITED, AUSTRALIA. DEPT OF THE TREASURY, AUSTRALIA. DEPT OF INDUSTRY AND SCIENCE, AUSTRALIAN LABOR PARTY, RESERVE BANK OF AUSTRALIA, AUSTRALIA. DEPT OF FOREIGN AFFAIRS AND TRADE

Hockey puts tax debate on hold

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Original article by Phillip Coorey
The Australian Financial Review – Page: 3 : 13-Feb-15

The Australian Government will issue its tax white paper after the release of its intergenerational report. Treasurer Joe Hockey said on 12 February 2015 that the intergenerational report will provide significant information about factors that are likely to affect Australia’s tax policy. The Government had originally planned to release the tax white paper before Christmas 2014

CORPORATES
AUSTRALIA. DEPT OF THE TREASURY, AUSTRALIA. DEPT OF THE PRIME MINISTER AND CABINET