The Same Family in Ireland

The Tax Office has released three draft determinations, which set out the Commissioner’s preliminary views on the tax consequences for investors with interests in collapsed managed investment schemes (MISs).

The AAT has affirmed that an advance to a partnership was a capital contribution to the partnership and not a loan as submitted by the taxpayers. Therefore, the Tribunal held that deductions claimed by the taxpayers for interest and loan service costs were not deductible.

The Tax Office has released a ruling that clarifies the tax treatment for buyers and sellers of trading stock where a seller provides trade incentives to a buyer. Examples of trade incentives include upfront volume rebates, promotional incentives and bundled incentives.

The Government has introduced a Bill into Parliament seeking to:

• ensure a representative of an incapacitated entity will be responsible for the GST consequences that arise during their appointment;
• address a number of PAYG issues arising from the introduction of the taxation of financial arrangements;
• ensure payments made under the Helping Children with Autism package are exempt from income tax;
• exempt payments made under the Continence Aids Payment Scheme from income tax;
• exempt debts issued in Australia by the Commonwealth from interest withholding tax; and
• provide the Victorian Bushfire Appeal Fund Independent Advisory Panel with greater scope to support communities and individuals affected by the 2009 Victorian bushfires.

Rate	Annual (%)	Daily (%)
GIC	10.30	0.02821918
SIC	6.30	0.01726027

The Government has announced that Typhoon Morakot, which hit Taiwan on 7 August 2009, has been recognised as a natural disaster. Therefore, taxpayers may be able to claim a deduction for donations made to organisations for providing relief to Taiwanese who are affected by the typhoon.

* An organisation must be endorsed as a deductible gift recipient before a donation is deductible.