Income Tax Point-in-Time Service Updates

The Income Tax Point-in-Time Service has been updated to include the Military Rehabilitation and Compensation Amendment (Single Treatment Pathway) Act 2019 (Cth) (Act 122 of 2019), the Treasury Laws Amendment (Reducing Pressure on Housing Affordability Measures) Act 2019 (Cth) (Act 129 of 2019), and the Treasury Laws Amendment (Miscellaneous Amendments) Regulations 2019 (Cth).

Act 122 of 2019

An Act to amend the Military Rehabilitation and Compensation Act 2004 (MRCA) to simplify treatment pathways for medical treatment. The amendments would replace the two existing treatment pathways with a single treatment pathway that enables medical treatment to be accessed and provided through a Department of Veterans’ Affairs (DVA) Health Card. This amendment will align the MRCA treatment pathway to that in the Veterans’ Entitlements Act 1986 and the Safety, Rehabilitation and Compensation (Defence-related Claims) Act 1988.

The amendments would also regularise the past transfer of clients from treatment pathway one to treatment pathway two and enable clients to be issued with a DVA Health Card to access treatment without the need to pay up-front and later seek reimbursement. Currently, clients on treatment pathway one have to pay up-front for medical services and then seek reimbursement from DVA.

Act 129 of 2019

Schedule 1 to the Act amends the Income Tax Assessment Act 1997 ("ITAA 1997") to remove the entitlement to the CGT main residence exemption for foreign residents other than where certain life events occur during the period that a person is a foreign resident where that period is six years or less; and modify the foreign resident CGT regime to clarify that, for the purpose of determining whether an entity’s underlying value is principally derived from TARP, the principal asset test is applied on an associate inclusive basis.
Schedule 2 to the Act amends the ITAA 1997 to provide an additional affordable housing capital gains discount. The additional discount of up to 10 per cent applies if a CGT event occurs to an ownership interest in residential premises that has been used to provide affordable housing.
Schedule 3 to the Act enables a reconciliation payment to be made by developers who sell dwellings to foreign persons under a near-new dwelling exemption certificate.

Treasury Laws Amendment (Miscellaneous Amendments) Regulations 2019

The purpose of the Treasury Laws Amendment (Miscellaneous Amendments) Regulations 2019 (the Regulations) is to make minor and technical amendments to regulations in the Treasury portfolio, including tax laws, corporations laws, superannuation laws and credit laws. The amendments are part of the Government’s commitment to the care and maintenance of Treasury portfolio legislation.
The Regulations amend various Treasury portfolio regulations to make minor and technical changes that correct typographical errors and unintended outcomes, increase thresholds and repeal inoperative provisions. These changes ensure that the amended regulations operate in the way intended.

These new amendments have been updated in the Point-in-Time Income Tax Service current to 15 January 2020. (NB: subscription required).

If you are not already a subscriber to this or other Point-in-Time Services then please contact us to find out more or to take a free trial.