News & Tax Insights

In January, the Tax Office announced a new data-matching program to target people receiving tax-free pensions from Centrelink and the Department of Veterans' Affairs for the 2011 and 2012 income years. In total, the records of 1.8 million individuals held on Government Computers will be matched against the Tax Office records of names, addresses etc to check whether tax obligations and claims for dependent tax offsets are correct.

Businesses providing contractor services to Councils in Queensland, New South Wales, Victoria and Tasmania during the 2011 and 2012 income years will be subject to data matching undertaken by the Tax Office. The Tax Office expects to electronically match details of 20,500 taxpayers to check whether all tax payment and lodgement obligations have been met. Careful review of BAS, tax return and other ATO details may be appropriate.

The NSW Supreme Court refused an exemption from NSW land tax for the owners of land in NSW that was used for cattle grazing with a herd of up to 40 cattle because the Court concluded that the farming operations did not have sufficient commercial purpose or character. The NSW Land Tax Act provides an exemption from land tax where the land is used for primary production and it is: •         Zoned “rural”, “rural residential” or “non-urban”; •         The Chief Commissioner is satisfied it is rural land; or •         The primary production has “significant and substantial commercial purpose or character”…