Income Tax Point-in-Time Service Updates

The Income Tax Point-in-Time Service has been updated to include the Treasury Laws Amendment (Personal Income Tax Plan) Act 2018 (Cth) (Act 47 of 2018), the Corporations Amendment (Asia Region Funds Passport) Act 2018 (Cth) (Act 61 of 2018), the Treasury Laws Amendment (Medicare Levy and Medicare Levy Surcharge) Act 2018 (Cth) (Act 69 of 2018) and the Treasury Laws Amendment (2018 Measures No. 1) Regulations 2018 (Cth).

Act 47 of 2018

Schedule 1 to this Act amends the tax law to:

• introduce the low and middle income tax offset to reduce the tax payable by low and middle income earners in the 2018-19, 2019-20, 2020-21 and 2021-22 income years; and
• for 2022-23 and later income years, merge the low and middle income tax offset and the LITO into a more generous new low income tax offset.

Schedule 2 to this Act amends the Income Tax Rates Act 1986 to progressively increase the income tax rate thresholds in 2018-19, 2022-23 and 2024-25.

Act 61 of 2018

The Act introduces into Australian law a multilateral framework that allows eligible funds to be marketed across economies participating in the Asia Region Funds Passport with limited additional regulatory requirements. The Passport is intended to support the development of an Asia-wide managed funds industry through improved market access and regulatory harmonisation.    

Act 69 of 2018

The Act amends the Medicare Levy Act 1986 and the A New Tax System (Medicare Levy Surcharge — Fringe Benefits) Act 1999 to increase:

• the Medicare levy low-income thresholds for individuals and families (along with the dependent child/student component of the family threshold) in line with movements in the consumer price index (CPI);
• the Medicare levy low-income thresholds for individuals and families eligible for the seniors and pensioners tax offset (along with the dependent child/student component of the family threshold), in line with movements in the CPI; and
• the Medicare levy surcharge low-income threshold in line with movements in the CPI.

Treasury Laws Amendment (2018 Measures No. 1) Regulations 2018

These regulations amend the Taxation Administration Regulations 2017, Tax Agent Services Regulations 2009, and Income Tax Assessment Regulations 1997 to allow disclosure of taxpayer information to officers of the Black Economy Standing Taskforce and the Illicit Tobacco Taskforce, increase the application fees set out in the Tax Agent Services Regulations 2009, and update the list of approved stock exchanges in Schedule 5 of the Income Tax Assessment 1997 to remove references to stock exchanges that no longer exist and add references to stock exchanges produced from mergers or the renaming of stock exchanges that were previously listed.    

The amendments made by these Acts and the Regulation have been updated in the Point-in-Time Income Tax Service current to 20 August 2018. (NB: Subscription required).

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