Australia is renowned in the world for its beautiful weather, stable political environment and transparent fiscal policy.
Up against this reputation, Australia just had its hottest summer on record (source: Bureau of Meteorology), seven prime ministers in just 10 years and with the upcoming Federal election in a few month’s time heavily fought on tax grounds.
While both political parties are constantly making new announcements to their tax policies as it gets closer to the election date, it is probably a good time to pause and let Alan Leung take us through some of the heavily debated tax proposals announced by the political parties:
[table id=2 /]Once must note that there is very little detail on how these proposals are to be implemented, and like many things in life, the devil is in the detail.
Having said that, we expect these proposals, if implemented, will result in significant amount of additional tax payable by medium to high income earners eg GPs, Specialists, including those who structure their financial affairs using trusts, companies, and SMSF. Hence, it’s more important than ever to look into optimising your tax affairs, for example by means of claiming all tax deductions for doctors.
Not to forget the commercial side of these proposals as well. For example, the announcement on negative gearing while may affect the value of properties in general, could also impact on the taxpayers’ ability to obtain finance in order to acquire the investment.
We suggest speaking to your accountants and tax advisers on how these proposals may affect your tax planning so you could take appropriate action.
About Alan Leung: A Registered Tax Agent, Alan has over 25 years experience in providing complex tax advice to corporate and high net worth taxpayers in Australian and overseas. Alan is a Fellow of Chartered Accountants Australia and New Zealand (CA ANZ) and a Fellow and Chartered Tax Adviser with The Tax Institute. Having a Master of Taxation from the Melbourne Law School, Alan also holds the position of Tax Trainer with CA ANZ and regularly presents at tax training sessions to a number of professional services firms. Alan may be contacted at [email protected]
Disclaimer: The comments above have been prepared for informational and general purposes only and are not intended to provide, and should not be relied upon for tax, legal or financial, or accounting advice. You should consult your own tax, legal, financial or accounting advisors before engaging in any transaction or making a claim on a tax return.