Tax practitioners in the profession and corporate groups have been dancing to the tune of tax reform over the last two years. But just when the dance steps started to come together the soft lights went out and the audit spotlight has been turned on, with the ATO sending us its Compliance Plan for 2002/03.
In late 2002 the light shone brightly onto some previously held ATO positiongs, in the cases of Prebble and MLC, which also involved ATO attempted imposition of penalties.
A new dance was promised by the Treasurer, Peter Costello, announcing new legislation for Trusts in the Section 109UB deemed dividend area, interest claims related to borrowings to fund distributions and confirming that the Government will retain the current flow through regime for distributions.
This seminar gave a taste of the impact of these announcements in 2003.