A number of Bills relating to tax and superannuation are proposed for introduction into parliament in the 2015 Spring Sittings. These are listed below:

• Tax and Superannuation Laws Amendment (2015 Spring No 1) Bill* contains amendments to:
– better target the Zone Tax Offset to exclude “fly-in fly-out” and “drive-in drive-out” employees
– limit FBT concessions for entertainment benefits
– strengthen the CGT scrip for scrip rollover integrity provisions
– increase the threshold at which superannuation funds transfer lost member superannuation accounts to the ATO from $2,000 to $6,000 in two stages, and
– introduce a non-final withholding tax to the disposal by foreign residents of certain direct and indirect interests in Australian real property

• Tax Laws Amendment (Combatting Multinational Tax Avoidance) Bill* contains amendments to:
– introduce a new targeted anti-avoidance rule to stop multinationals artificially avoiding a taxable presence in Australia
– help the ATO detect tax avoidance by introducing better transfer pricing documentation (the first concrete deliverable from the OECD’s base erosion and profit shifting action plan), and
– deter aggressive tax planning by increasing penalties and public transparency. These requirements will only apply to multinational entities with global revenue greater than $1b

• Superannuation Legislation Amendment (Governance) Bill* contains amendments to improve governance in superannuation

• Higher Education Support Amendment (Overseas Debt Recovery) Bill* and Higher Education Loan Programme Overseas Repayment Obligation Bill* contain amendments to recover HELP debts from overseas-based debtors through an income contingent repayment scheme

• Higher Education Support (VET FEE-HELP Reform) Bill* contains amendments to the Higher Education Support Act 2003to strengthen the VET FEE-HELP loan scheme. The amendments will strengthen the administration of the programme, enhance requirements for VET providers and implement complementary actions to provide additional protections and improve the quality outcome for students, and

• Foreign Acquisitions and Takeovers Amendment Bill*, Foreign Ownership Register Bill Foreign Acquisitions and Takeovers Fees (Imposition) Bill contain amendments to:
– increase screening and registration of foreign investment in agriculture
– transfer residential real estate functions to the ATO
– introduce fees on all foreign investment applications, and
– introduce civil penalty and infringement notice regimes for breaches of foreign investment rules and make various changes to modernise and simplify the Foreign Acquisitions and Takeovers Act 1975, and

• Omnibus Repeal Day (Spring 2015) Bill contains amendments to:
– remove spent and redundant provisions and repeal a number of spent and redundant Acts, and
– remove red tape and reduce regulatory burden.

Bills marked with an asterisk (*) are proposed for introduction and passage in the Spring Sittings.

Source: Department of the Prime Minister and Cabinet media release.