Can government fix it: policy improvements

Maturation Requirements in the Excise and Customs Acts

In order for income of a Superannuation fund to be treated as exempt current pension income (ECPI) and therefore be exempt from income tax, section 295-385 of the Income Tax Assessment Act 1997 requires the trustee of the fund to obtain an actuary's certificate. Obtaining such a certificate is burdensome both from a timing and compliance cost perspective. Propose a statutory formula be developed in place of this requirement.

The rules governing the Superannuation Guarantee Charge (SGC) regime are complex and onerous to the extent that many SME's ignore SGC for late super remissions. These rules should be substantially simplified in order to provide clarity and improved compliance.

The Board is interested in getting a better understanding of what the biggest irritant are when dealing with this regime. It would be great if the community could please provide some examples.

Overhaul Interest on Overpayments

The Interests on Overpayments (IOP) regime needs to be overhauled. The current system is difficult to understand and administratively complex.

Each State has its own system with inconsistent record keeping requirements in relation to Royalties. To ease compliance burdens and reduce uncertainty, consider developing a 'pro-forma' system that each of the States could adopt.

The current pay as you go (PAYG) instalment calculations represent a substantial compliance burden. Simplify the various methods to calculate PAYG instalments by, for instance, basing them off accounting profit figures.

I'm not sure if the government realises the amount of money lost every year in the dental industry.

Today most of the crown and bridge work is sent to China for manufacturing for nothing and I believe that the public/ authorities do not realise.

Everyday bags and bags of impressions are sent via couriers, most of the time transiting through large australian based companies.

The work is manufactured in large labs overseas and sent back within a week or 2 approx.

I believe that being less than $1000, the work doesn't get taxed.

Currently, employers must collect and report monthly wages information and annual reconciliations for each State using various systems/forms. Members of a group then also require a Designated Group Employer (“DGE”) to lodge a separate annual reconciliation for each State summing the wages information for every group company both in the relevant State as well as Australia wide (in order to apply State payroll tax thresholds on a group basis).

For small businesses, calculating expenses that confer fringe benefits using a period that overlaps accounting periods adds an additional compliance burden. By aligning the two periods, a business can use their year-end figures to calculate their expenses for FBT

Update and finalise TR 2007/D10, Income tax: capital gains: capital gains tax consequences of earnout arrangements now that the earnout legislation is passed. There are some types of earnouts that the legislation does not cover. The ruling should cover these.