Category Archives: Tax

Labor’s refusal to extend school chaplaincy tax deduction will cause cuts, Christian group says

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Parents’ secular education group wants chaplains scrapped and student wellbeing officers employed instead

Australia’s largest supplier of school chaplains has labelled the Albanese government’s decision not to extend its eligibility to receive tax deductible gifts “disappointing and unexpected”.

Scripture Union Australia has warned the decision would probably result in cuts to chaplaincy services after Labor allowed its deductible gift recipient (DGR) status, previously granted by the Morrison government, to lapse.

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PwC Australia allegedly provided confidential tax law information to Google

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Google, the first of the firm’s customers directly linked to the tax scandal, was not told the information was confidential and there is no suggestion of wrongdoing by the company

PwC Australia allegedly provided Google confidential information about the start date of a new tax law leaked from Australian government tax briefings, according to two sources familiar with the matter.

This is the first time a company has been directly linked to the national scandal involving the “big four” accounting firm that was revealed in January.

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Australia’s budget surplus swells to $19bn due to surging tax revenue

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Economist Chris Richardson says figure well above earlier forecasts is a reminder of ‘how lucky the Lucky Country has been’

The federal budget is on track to smash its earlier surplus forecasts as the government rakes in much more revenue.

The underlying cash balance for the 12 months to May was $19bn, well above the $4.2bn surplus flagged for the 2022-23 financial year in the last federal budget.

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Australia’s leading super funds halt future contracts with PwC amid tax scandal fallout

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AustralianSuper, Australian Retirement Trust, Hesta and Aware Super say they won’t enter into new contracts with the firm

Australia’s biggest superannuation funds have either frozen, or are reviewing, future work contracts with PricewaterhouseCoopers Australia, as the fallout from the tax leaks scandal proves costly for the embattled firm.

Four of the country’s biggest funds, AustralianSuper, Australian Retirement Trust, Hesta and Aware Super, say they will not enter into new contracts with PwC, after the professional services firm used confidential information obtained through its work for the government for commercial gain.

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Victorian private schools ‘fear-mongering’ over job losses after tax exemptions axed, experts say

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About 110 of the state’s top high-fee paying private schools will be required to pay tax on staff salaries, raising more than $420m over three years

Fears that stripping “high-fee” Victorian private schools of their payroll tax exemption will lead to job losses are a “red herring”, education experts say.

The change, revealed in last week’s state budget, means about 110 private schools will be required to pay tax on staff salaries, raising more than $420m over three years.

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PwC tax scandal: staff stood down over concerns problem ‘significantly broader’ than one partner

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Former NSW police commissioner and now PwC partner Mick Fuller contacted his friend the AFP commissioner after scandal broke, Senate estimates told

PwC has agreed to a federal government order to stand down all employees involved in the alleged misuse of confidential information from government work, responding to concern the problem is “significantly broader” than one partner at the firm.

The public service has stepped up its response to PwC for sharing confidential tax policy information to drum up business, with the head of Treasury referring the matter to police and finance ordering staff “directly involved in, or who had knowledge of, the significant breach” to be stood down.

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Richard Boyle claims judge wrong to deny him whistleblower protections

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Former ATO worker lodges appeal against a South Australian district court decision not to grant him protection

Richard Boyle claims a judge was wrong to deny him whistleblower protections, and says Australia’s laws should have shielded him from alleged acts done in preparation to expose the conduct of the Australian Taxation Office, court documents show.

Boyle has lodged an appeal against a key decision in the South Australian district court, denying him the protections of the nation’s Public Interest Disclosure Act, which left him facing criminal trial on 24 charges – including the alleged use of his mobile phone to take photographs of taxpayer information and covertly record conversations with colleagues.

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One in five workers will be higher-rate taxpayers by 2027 – IFS

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Jeremy Hunt’s freeze on allowances and thresholds will put a quarter of teachers and one-eighth of nurses in 40% income tax bracket

One in four teachers and one in eight nurses will be higher-rate taxpayers by 2027 as a result of the government’s record freeze on income tax allowances and thresholds, according to a leading thinktank.

The Institute for Fiscal Studies said better-paid public sector workers will be among the almost 8 million people – one in five of all taxpayers – who will pay income tax at 40% or above as result of the Treasury’s attempt to reduce the UK’s budget deficit.

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Federal budget: Labor to collect billions more in petroleum resource rent tax

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Treasurer Jim Chalmers and finance minister Katy Gallagher announce changes ahead of budget tipped to be at or near surplus

Labor will cap deductions to collect $2.4bn more in petroleum resource rent tax over four years and boost community services by $4bn through fairer indexation of wage costs.

The two major measures were announced by the treasurer, Jim Chalmers, and finance minister, Katy Gallagher, ahead of Tuesday’s budget, which is expected to be at or near surplus.

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Labor announces payday super to crack down on billions in unpaid funds each year

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The measure will deliver a ‘more dignified retirement to more Australian workers’, treasurer Jim Chalmers says

Employers will be required to pay superannuation on payday, rather than quarterly, under reforms aimed at cracking down on the scourge of more than $3bn of super that goes unpaid each year.

The measure, announced by the treasurer, Jim Chalmers, and financial services minister, Stephen Jones, will take effect in July 2026, giving businesses three years to prepare.

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Small businesses offered tax breaks for going green in federal budget – as it happened

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This blog is now closed

Marles on Australians caught in Sudan conflict

Asked about Australians caught in Sudan and the conflict there, Richard Marles says “there are still options out of Port Sudan which is on the Red Sea, which is, I think it’s about 800km out of Khartoum” to leave “what is obviously a deteriorating situation”:

There are ferries there and there may be other options coming out of that. I mean, the important thing is this – Australians in Sudan, and there do remain a number of Australians in Sudan, really need to make sure that they register.

We will continue to work with friends and allies and do everything that we can within our power to provide options for Australians who want to leave. Because we understand how difficult this situation is now.

Ultimately, our ambition is to establish a production line with companies in this country which would provide for the manufacture of those long-range strike missiles and doing as much of that as possible in the next couple of years. We hope that we can begin with the assembly of the strike missiles that go in the Himars system. But we want to build on that so that we’re actually manufacturing the full suite of these weapons in Australia.

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Australia news live: defence strategic review ‘a cannibalisation of army mobility’, Hastie says; Victorian jockey dies after race fall

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Review calls for ADF to develop ability to precisely strike targets at longer range and to develop stronger network. Follow the day’s news live

Plibersek v Joyce on Newspoll

In their regular spot on Sunrise, environment minister Tanya Plibersek and Coalition frontbencher Barnaby Joyce weighed in on those Newspoll results.

They’re very strong support numbers, and I tell you the reason is not based on polling but what people tell me when I’m out around the country.

People tell me that they’re pleased to see a government that is just getting on with the job, doing what we promised and they’re impressed that the prime minister is just sticking with what he said he’d do.

We don’t have an election tomorrow and that’s a good thing.

A lot of people are starting to focus now on issues such as the voice and saying, “I don’t feel comfortable with this.”

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‘It’s obscene’: ATO still chasing $2bn in student debt from controversial 1990s loan scheme

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More than 140,000 people who traded welfare payments for loans are still repaying them decades later

The Australian government is still chasing $2bn of debt from more than 140,000 former low-income students who traded away their right to welfare under a loan scheme two decades ago for its unfairness.

The student financial supplement scheme (SFSS), which operated for a decade from 1993, enticed tertiary students to take out “low-cost” loans by giving up benefits including youth allowance, Austudy or the pensioner education supplement.

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Katy Gallagher ‘unchanged’ on stage-three tax cuts, won’t commit to raising jobseeker

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Leaving welfare payments at current rate ‘unconscionable and grossly irresponsible’, says anti-poverty body

The Albanese government remains committed to the $250bn stage-three tax cuts but cannot say whether it will lift the rate of the unemployment payment, despite its own expert committee finding it was now “a barrier to paid work”.

Speaking to ABC’s Insiders on Sunday the finance minister, Katy Gallagher, said the government was reviewing the findings of the economic inclusion committee and the women’s economic equality taskforce, but could not commit to accepting any of the recommendations.

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Australian Taxation Office to force banks to hand over landlord data in investment property crackdown

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Exclusive: Incorrect reporting of rental property income and expenses, and failure to declare capital gains are all in the spotlight

Banks will be compelled to hand over the data of 1.7 million landlords, including transaction details, as part of a tax office crackdown in search of $1.3bn in revenue lost from residential investment properties.

The data-matching program will target people failing to declare rental income or pay capital gains tax, and those incorrectly claiming deductions – including rental property loan interest – to reduce income and negatively gear properties.

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Australia’s richest captured 93% of economic growth between 2009 financial crisis and Covid, paper shows

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Wealthiest 10% captured growth in company profits while most Australians watched their real wages shrink, Australia Institute finds

A new paper from the Australia Institute shows 93% of the benefits of economic growth between 2009 and 2019 went to the top 10%, while the bottom 90% received just 7%.

The paper shows the share of economic growth going to the top 10% over that period was far higher in Australia than in other developed countries, including the US and Canada.

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Keir Starmer follows Rishi Sunak in releasing tax returns

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Labour leader earned little outside his parliamentary income apart from windfall after sister sold home he helped her buy

Keir Starmer has released his tax returns for the last two years, showing that he earned little outside his parliamentary income except for a windfall when his sister sold the family home that he helped her buy.

The Labour leader released a summary of his past two years of tax payments on Thursday, a day after the prime minister, Rishi Sunak, released three years of his.

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Jeremy Hunt defends pensions giveaway as Labour vows to scrap it

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Shadow chancellor says decision to axe lifetime allowance is ‘wrong priority at the wrong time for the wrong people’

The Labour party has vowed to reverse the chancellor’s £1bn budget pensions tax “gilded giveaway” for the wealthiest 1% if it wins the next general election, as Jeremy Hunt defended his decision to scrap the lifetime pensions allowance.

The shadow chancellor, Rachel Reeves, said Labour would seek to force a Commons vote next week on the decision, which critics argue will allow the wealthiest people to put a limitless amount into their pension pots, which can then be passed on to their heirs without paying inheritance tax.

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Jeremy Hunt is helping rich instead of helping people into work, says thinktank

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IFS says budget pensions giveaway could open up loophole for avoidance of inheritance tax

Jeremy Hunt’s huge pensions giveaway for the wealthiest 1% may have no impact on increasing the number of people in work, while opening a loophole for avoidance of inheritance tax, a leading economic thinktank has warned.

The Institute for Fiscal Studies said the surprise measure in the chancellor’s budget “probably won’t play a big part, if any” in increasing the number of people in work.

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Tories call for action over legal threats from powerful figures facing scrutiny

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Solicitors accused of using lawsuits to stifle criticism of prominent figures include those acting for Nadhim Zahawi

Ministers are under pressure to speed up action against the use of legal tactics by powerful figures to silence legitimate criticism. This comes after a surge in investigations into their use.

The Solicitors Regulatory Authority (SRA) warned the profession against employing such tactics at the end of last year, but says their use has increased since then, and it is now examining 40 cases.

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