As part of the Gillard Government's ongoing efforts to simplify and streamline Australia's tax system, the Assistant Treasurer, Bill Shorten, today released draft legislation to make further reforms to the goods and services tax (GST) grouping rules.
"The measures in the draft legislation will result in more principle‑based and simple GST grouping rules and allow GST grouping of non‑operating holding entities, thus reducing compliance costs for businesses," Mr Shorten said.
"These changes also clarify that specific contribution amounts, calculated under an indirect tax sharing agreement must, if requested, be provided to the Commissioner of Taxation."
The measures are to apply from 1 July 2011.
Public consultation on the legislative design of these measures was undertaken in 2009. A number of changes were made following stakeholder feedback including:
- Grandfathering of the existing GST grouping membership rules until 1 July 2012 to assist entities in transitioning to the new principle-based rules
- Expanding the scope of the non-operating holding companies measure to also include non‑operating holding trusts.
"These measures build on the first tranche of reforms to the GST grouping rules that became effective from 1 July 2010 and which greatly increased the flexibility for entities to group," Mr Shorten said.
"I encourage interested parties to provide feedback on the proposed legislation and explanatory memorandum."
The draft legislation and explanatory memorandum is available at www.treasury.gov.au and consultation will close on 16 February 2011.