The Australian Government can today announce that a full tax exemption will apply to military personnel serving on non-warlike Operations Manitou, Accordion, Okra (Zone B) and Augury in the Middle East region.
The Abbott Government is committed to providing high levels of financial and non-financial support to our serving personnel and the provision of tax relief for deployed Australian Defence Force (ADF) members reflects this commitment.
Following the Government’s approval earlier this year, ADF members serving in the aforementioned locations have now been formally granted a full tax exemption under section 23AD of the Income Tax Assessment Act 1936.
Previously, the full tax exemption only applied to those serving on Operation Highroad in Afghanistan and Operation Okra in Iraq.
Importantly, the tax exemption will be back-dated to the start of each operation and will help to standardise tax treatment for all ADF personnel deployed in the Middle East.
The tax exemption will also apply to those personnel who previously served on Operations Manitou, Accordion, Okra (Zone B) or Augury, but have since ceased serving on those operations.
Approximately 5,500 ADF members will be affected by these changes, which will begin to be applied from their next pay day.
There is no change to the existing tax exemption status for ADF personnel serving on Operations Aslan, Mazurka, Palate II or Paladin.