Federal Parliament concluded its Autumn sittings on 28 March 2018, with a number of tax and superannuation related Bills introduced into Federal Parliament. It will next sit on 8 May 2018, which is also the day on which the 2018-19 Federal Budget will be handed down.

Since the March edition of TaxTalk Monthly, the following tax or superannuation related Bills were introduced into the House of Representatives on 28 March 2018:

Commonwealth revenue measures registered as legislative instruments or regulations since the March edition of TaxTalk Monthly include:

·       The following guidelines and instruments in relation to Export Market Development Grants:

–    Export Market Development Grants (Information and Document Requirements) Instrument 2018. This instrument details the information and documents which must be provided by certain applicants concerning its export performance measure, for the purposes of paragraphs 70(2C)(f) and (g) of the Export Market Development Grants Act 1997  The Instrument is made to repeal and replace the Export Market Development Grants (Information and Document Requirements) Determination 2008, which is due to sunset on 1 October 2018. The Guidelines apply when working out entitlement to a grant in respect of a grant made on or after 1 July 2018.

–    Export Market Development Grants Regulations 2018, which repeal and replace the Export Market Development Grants Regulations 2008 (due to sunset on 1 October 2018). The Regulations are the same in substance as the Export Market Development Grants Regulations 2008, with the exception of three redundant provisions which have been removed. The Regulations apply when calculating entitlement to a grant in respect of an application for a grant made on or after 1 July 2018.

·       Treasury Laws Amendment (Reducing Pressure on Housing Affordability Measures No. 1) Regulations 2018, which amends tax regulations to support the measures introduced by the Treasury Laws Amendment (Reducing Pressure on Housing Affordability Measures No. 1) Act 2017 (Cth). In particular, the Regulations make changes to prescribe the withholding amount applicable to the First Home Super Saver Scheme released amounts, and ensure that superannuation entities are able to accept downsizer contributions.

  • Petroleum Excise (Prices) Regulations 2018, which sets out the manner in which the price of crude petroleum oil and condensate is determined for the purposes of imposing excise under the Excise Tariff Act 1921. The Regulation remakes and improves the Petroleum Excise (Prices) Regulations 1988, which sunset on 1 April 2018. The new regulations are not intended to affect the substantive meaning or operation of the Petroleum Excise (Prices) Regulations 1988. The key changes include the consolidation of defined terms in a single section for ease of reference, and the reference to provisions as sections rather than regulations.

It is also worth noting that the following key tax Bills have now completed their passage through Parliament:

  • Treasury Laws Amendment (Income Tax Consolidation Integrity) Bill 2018, which proposed various changes to improve the integrity and operation of the tax consolidation regime by implementing a range of measures relating to deductible liabilities, deferred tax liabilities, securitised assets, cost setting for foreign owned groups (‘anti-churn’ rules) and intra-group assets and liabilities. For further information on the key aspects of the Bill, refer to our TaxTalk Alert, which was published on 16 February 2018.
  • Treasury Laws Amendment (2018 Measures No. 1) Bill 2018, which extends the loss relief and asset roll-over for merging superannuation funds until 1 July 2020, and which will require (from 1 July 2018) purchasers of new residential premises and new subdivisions of potential residential land to make a payment of part of the purchase price representing the goods and services tax directly to the Australian Taxation Office.
  • Treasury Laws Amendment (Junior Minerals Exploration Incentive) Bill 2017, which introduces the Junior Minerals Exploration Incentive (JMEI) for those who invest in small minerals exploration companies undertaking greenfields minerals exploration in Australia.